Missing At Christmas
by Swalker2000
Summary: As Gru and Lucy run themselves ragged in search of perfect Christmas gifts for the girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes completely vanish from their home, with no clear explanation for their disappearance. Pretty strange that it happens right after an old foe of the AVL couple escapes prison...
1. A Pretty Great Year

**Despicable Me:**  
_**Missing At Christmas**_

_It's the start of December, and this year, I just couldn't help myself. I HAD to do a Christmas story. Of course, there'll be plenty of fluff, because what would Christmas be without fluff. But, as well as that, I wanted to incorporate more of a Despicable Me kind of storyline in between things._

_Or, in other words, there's a bad guy who wants to do bad stuff._

_This story has been a long while in the making, so hopefully, you'll really enjoy it!_

* * *

**Chapter One:**  
_**A Pretty Great Year**_

As the twenty-one-year-old looked out over the sun-soaked city, Vixon smiled and cherished this resounding moment in his life. The warm July breeze lightly glided across his skin, and in that moment, he couldn't remember a time where he'd felt so proud and fulfilled. For soon, once his accomplice arrived with the escape helicopter, he will pull off the most dastardly villainous heist that he'd ever thought up.

The Statue of Light was regarded as one of the most elaborately designed structural landmarks in the US. Standing at around 300 feet tall, it was situated proudly in the middle of the city, watching out over the many surrounding buildings as if it were a concerned parent. As he stood inside the viewing platform at its peak, he had to admit, this statue truly was an impressive sight to behold.

Pity it was about to be blown up.

Vixon cackled to himself as he cradled the trigger in his grasp. Any minute now, the helicopter will arrive, and as he whisks away from the city in a bask of his own glory, he will press it and explode the stupid thing into the next universe.

He'd spent quite some time secretly planting a myriad of explosives inside of the statue's framework, and once the lot of them are simultaneously activated, nothing in its vicinity will survive. Considering how much he'd used, it was probably a little overkill, but regardless, it didn't hurt to make sure.

Well, the city would get hurt, but in fairness, that was the whole point.

Truly, he couldn't foresee how anything would go wrong. Everyone but his hired accomplice, who was also an up-and-coming villain making great strides in the evil-doer community, were none-the-wiser to this truly devious deed. Surely, this event will go down in history, to be revered amongst fellow villains as one of the best acts of tyranny ever perpetrated.

He still had some ways to go to out-do the moon heist, but this was a good starting point.

Or so he thought...

Unfortunately, at that moment, much to Vixon's cataclysmic surprise, the very man who conducted that same heist burst through the entrance and affixed the villain with a strong gaze. The bald AVL agent had his fists clenched tight as he watched him, and it didn't particularly take a genius to understand why he was here.

"Put de trigger down, Vixon!"

"Gru!" The brown-haired man simply stood slack-jawed for a moment, hoping sincerely that the person stood before him was some sort of hallucination. "How...how did you know I was here!?"

"Let's just say, I had..." He put his head down for a short moment, allowing a gratified smirk to gradually crawl across his expression. "_An anonymous tip-off._"

Growling, Vixon had to suppress the urge to crush the trigger angrily in his grip. He'd spent so long planning out and conducting this heist, that he couldn't let this goody-two-shoes traitor of villainy waltz in and ruin it. Maybe, he considered, this was the opportunity to let his name go down in history...

As the man who killed Felonious Gru.

"Well...I guess you got me then, huh?" The villain mused, strolling forward with a venomous grin. "Now that you're here, it appears there's no way out."

"Yoo learn fast." Gru responded, slightly cocking his head as he took his own threatening step forward. "Now, dis ees your last chance. Put de trigger down, or I'll have eet removed _by force_."

"Ooo, _real_ scary. You've been working on your threats since our last encounter." Vixon's evil smile continued to develop, as he lifted the trigger and traversed his finger closer in preparation. Gru's expression visibly dropped. "Pity you're still terrible at it."

"Yoo wouldn't dare."

"Oh, wouldn't I? I think you'd be quite surprised." The twenty-one-year-old jeered with a small laugh. "You see, without you, the AVL would be severely crippled. You've been their best agent recently, haven't you? For every single heist that's been planned this year, you've been there to stop most of them." His morbid grin continued to grow wider as he spoke in the most wicked tone he could produce. He was still young, so it wasn't entirely effective. "Truly, this would be the _perfect_ revenge against your stupid little organization, especially after the trouble you've caused me!"

"Dis ees _suicide_!"

Vixon gave a nonchalant shrug.

"I am but a worthy sacrifice." The villain gradually moved his finger even closer to the button, putting Gru more and more on edge. "If killing the two of us is how my name will be remembered, then so be it."

However, to Vixon's minor surprise, instead of frightening Gru further with this revelation, the former villain simply grinned, as if he was overcome with a sudden wave of confidence.

"Dere ees a fault een your logic."

At that moment, before Vixon could form a question to his response, an unknown redhead agent dressed in a long blue coat leaped from his right to tackle the young villain to the floor, sending the trigger flying out of his grasp in the process.

"There's _three_ of us!" Lucy exclaimed, harshly pinning the man to the ground.

Watching the trigger as it flew hazardously through the air, Gru dashed forward and leaped to catch the device before it landed face-down on the hard floor, something they were very lucky to avoid at El Macho's mansion.

At least this time, no villainous chickens will come to cancel out that luck...

Once it was held safely in his grasp, Gru rose to his feet, dusted himself down, and smirked at the apprehended villain, as he gave the AVL agent an impressively brutal glare. He was uttering a dictionary of explicit curse words, and it was very clear that he never could've predicted how easy it was for them to take him down.

"Maybe I was wrong about yoo, Vixon. Maybe yoo aren't such a fast learner." The AVL agent couldn't help but grin victoriously as he watched the man's enraged frown. "I was not jokeeng about de forceful removal."

"You...piece of...I can't _believe_ you!" Vixon didn't know what kind of insult he wanted to throw out first. He did have a whole collection of them at this point. "You AVL agents find a way to ruin _everything_, don't you!?"

"Well, we ain't here to make friends." Lucy berated, as she secured the man's wrists inside of the designated AVL handcuffs. "I'm sure you can make _plenty _of them in prison."

Aggressively lifting him onto his feet, the female agent roughly lead the man towards the exit door, as her husband followed beside her with a finger on his Bluetooth communication device.

"Alpha Team, Vixon has been dealt weeth. Yoo're clear to dispose of de explosives."

"Copy that." The Alpha Team commander replied, the sounds of the helicopter blades accompanying him across the speaker. "Alpha Team are in approach. ETA of three minutes."

With that response, Gru smiled and gave his partner and spouse a nod of approval, to which she returned her own affectionate grin. Unfortunately, the voice of an overly-ambitious devious idiot interrupted their moment of victory.

"I swear, you will not get away with this. Vixon is not a man of failure."

"I am severely doubteeng dat." Gru responded, shaking his head in exasperation.

"Being thrown in jail seems like a pretty big failure in my book." Lucy added. Vixon let out another threatening growl.

"I don't _care_ how long I have to wait. Trust me...

"I _will_ have my revenge."

* * *

**150 Days Later**

* * *

As they listened to the sound of the howling winter wind outside their bedroom window, Margo, Edith, and Agnes were filled to the brim with that brilliant Christmas feeling. Subconsciously, the eldest sister couldn't deter a light smile as she gently ran the brush through her youngest sibling's hair.

In a similar vein, Agnes was also smiling, but hers was a much wider, toothier variant.

"I'm SO excited for Christmas!"

"Me too!" Margo replied with a giggle, trying to steady the bubbly little girl as she sat on the edge of her bomb bed. "Just another three days to go."

"What do you think Santa's gonna bring us?" Edith asked while hanging dangerously from one of the higher bookshelves. She'd been frantically jumping around the room in that fashion for a good hour, and to give the middle-child credit, she looked far from fatigued. Maybe her Christmas excitement was somehow being converted into energy.

"The new fairy unicorn princess doll!" Agnes exclaimed, fidgeting with glee as she thought about her favored gift. She'd wanted it ever since she spied the advertisement while watching cartoons. It came with a set of fairy wings attached to its back, and apparently, it could move its limbs and talk about princess stuff.

She didn't know how a toy had the ability to talk and move, but if it was true, then she really didn't care.

"I don't even know what I want." Edith spoke, absentmindedly removing a hand from the shelf to hang further over the edge. "Maybe some ninja stars. Or a ninja mask." Her eyes widening, she gasped excitedly and started jumping up and down on the spot, making the shelf shake slightly. "Or maybe the new Ultra Soaker 5000! It's like the _coolest_ water gun ever!"

As the tomboy continued to gush with excitement, Margo glanced upwards and rolled her eyes with slight exasperation. Gently pushing past Agnes to get to her feet, she snatched the pillow from her bed and laid it down in the middle of the room, inviting an intrigued look from the six-year-old.

"Why are you putting a pillow on the floor, Margo?"

"Just wait."

At that moment, with near-perfect timing, Edith lost her grip on the shelf and yelled as she descended at a dangerous speed. Thankfully, the recently placed pillow gracing the hardwood floor entirely softened the fall, saving her from a pretty painful injury.

Quite clearly a little freaked out, the nine-year-old transferred her gaze between both sisters, one who looked relieved and the other who looked frustrated.

"Woah..." She marveled, her look of shock slowly transforming into a grin. "Cool."

"If you don't wanna spend Christmas Day in the hospital..." Margo began sternly, as her younger sibling looked up and offered an owlish glare. "Then you might wanna stop leaping around the room like an insane person."

Frowning, Edith stuck out her tongue at the bespectacled girl, but before she could rise to her feet and purposely defy Margo's instructions, the sound of the front door opening and closing totally snatched her attention.

"They're home!" Agnes yelled, not wasting a second in leaping to her feet and propelling for the downstairs hallway, her sisters following shortly after.

Sure enough, the two AVL agents had just entered the mansion, the interior of which felt like a sauna compared to the polar outside conditions. Fortunately for them, maybe _un_fortunately in the girls' case, it hadn't snowed yet, but judging on that sharp ice-cold feeling in the air, it surely wouldn't be very long until it did.

A white Christmas this year, perhaps? It was a while since they'd had one of those.

"Mom! Dad!" The youngest screeched, running down the stairs and trapping the two fatigued adults in a loving cuddle. Shortly after, the other two would bound down and do the exact same, filling the room with an array of giggles in the process.

"Hello, gurls." Gru replied, his voice drowned in the need for sleep. He wished he could present the same cheer and vigor that his daughters always seemed to possess, but considering that he certainly wasn't a young man anymore, it was a difficult task when the energy to create it just didn't exist.

"How was work?" Margo questioned, looking up at the married couple with a bright smile. Lucy shrugged before answering.

"Another day, another crazy person trying to take over the world." She replied, spinning her gaze across the numerous colorful lights hanging from the ceiling and walls. Though her head was stinging and her body was lacking energy, she had to admit, it was impossible not to smile with satisfaction. "Pretty much the same thing as always."

A short period of silence fell between the family, as the two adults looked down at the three young girls with half-open eyes, the likes of which were graced by purple bags. The children took a moment to investigate their parents and their defeated forms, and it was Edith who eventually commented on it.

"You guys look like crud."

Gru rolled his eyes and shared a momentary glance with his wife, who smirked a little humorously.

"Yes, well, kickeeng butts all day really takes eet out of yoo." He responded, rustling the little girl's beanie, who pulled away from him with a playful giggle. Moving over to the nearest coat rack, the two removed their hats and scarfs at a slow pace, all while their daughters watched with an unexpected amount of interest. "Now, where ees Uncle Dru?"

"Down in the lab, I think." Margo answered, receiving a slightly shocked look from her father.

"Een de lab? How long has he been down dere?"

"All day."

Gru huffed and held the bridge of his nose, an annoyed frown adorning his expression. "Ugh, dat idiot, he was supposed to be babysitteeng." He cast a frustrated look at the ground, as if he was trying to send his brother the harsh expression through the floorboards. "What eef sometheeng had happened to one of yoo?"

Margo momentarily glanced at Edith, who was playing with the straps of her hat contentedly, before shrugging. "Well...it would've been fine. I was here."

"Hmph, well...yes," Gru spoke, giving his eldest daughter an exasperated look. "But dat ees de whole point. _He_ should've been here."

Frowning, Margo crossed her arms and glanced at Edith again, thinking back to her escapade on the bedroom shelves a minute ago. It appeared that saving her from a pretty horrible injury wasn't enough to grant any trust around here...

"Now, then..." Lucy began, pausing to hang up her blue coat. "Me and your father are gonna start on dinner, so why don't you three go and-"

"I'M _SOOOOO EXCITED _FOR CHRISTMAS!"

The mother of three didn't have the chance to finish her sentence before Agnes exclaimed her bubbly announcement, one of which almost frightened the daylights out of her. Judging on how much the tiny human was fiercely vibrating with joy, it was clear that she'd been holding that in for a small while.

Recovering from his own bout of slight shock, Gru glanced at his spouse for a moment, unsure of how to respond at first. "Uh...y-yes, Agnes...not too long to go now."

"I've been a really really good girl, right!?" She was continuing to jump up and down in front of them, her smile as bright as the most blinding bulb. Lucy couldn't suppress another small grin. She couldn't deny, out of all the different things she'd done in her life, motherhood had been the absolute best by a country mile.

"Of course, sweetie." She replied, giggling a little as she leaned down to her level. Agnes's eyes only seemed to grow wider with that clarification.

"So, Santa's gonna bring me the unicorn doll, right!?"

At this point, contrary to how it was prior to that exclamation, Lucy's whole face slightly dropped. She quickly cast a fearful look at her husband, who could only reciprocate the same expression.

"Um, w-well...you never know." She said, looking off to the side in rapid thought. "As you said, you've been _super super_ good, so...I don't see a reason why not."

When Lucy spied the six-year-old's super elated look, she didn't particularly know how to feel. Given that Agnes always sets her little heart on anything she really wants, such as a doll or a magical forest-dwelling unicorn, if she wasn't to receive this favored toy in three days, then it was sure to upset her substantially.

Obviously, without the need for explanations, Gru and Lucy wanted to avoid that at all costs...

"Now, as Lucy was sayeeng..." Gru jumped in, trying to change the subject before Agnes could raise her hopes any higher. "We're gonna get started on deener, so go upstairs and wash up."

The three ebullient girls nodded in unison and charged off for the upstairs bathroom, chattering to themselves eagerly about an assortment of Christmassy topics. On any other day, the married couple would've loved to see their daughters gush with pure joy over a day that they could all spend together as a family...

But that just wasn't the case right now.

Huffing in unison, Gru and Lucy carried on through the hallway and entered the kitchen, silence plaguing the two throughout the very short journey. With the combination of both fatigue and fear in their heads, that silence was very much expected.

"What are we gonna do, Gru?" Lucy finally muttered, holding her head in her hands as she slumped into the booth table. Gru handed her a concerned look as he strolled over to the stove. "We've looked absolutely everywhere! Online, in shops, in freaking _market stalls_. That toy is _completely_ sold out and we've only got two more days left to find it."

Gru couldn't respond without giving a quick huff under his breath.

"Dis ees a nightmare." He replied, snatching a saucepan from the cupboard and slamming it shut roughly. "Plus, we gotta get gifts for de other two, as well. _And _Dru!" He took a moment to stare at the bottom of the kitchen utensil angrily, as if it was the cause of all their problems. "_God knows_ what we're gonna get _heem_. Dat guy ees de fussiest adult I've ever met."

"Stupid AVL. Out of all the times for us to have _ten missions_ in two weeks, why did it have to be in December?" Lucy stated irately, balling her fists a little. Throughout her career, she'd never wished to be employed in a different job, purely since she loved the AVL more than any other possible occupation.

But right now, that company was being a real pain in the butt.

"Couldn't even give us a pay rise for eet either." Gru angrily mentioned, wiping the inside of the saucepan with a tea-towel. "All dat work and absolutely _notheeng_ to show for eet. We'll be lucky eef we can even afford to buy de gifts."

"God, it's...it's just not _fair_! Assigning us to every mission for the past few weeks! How could we possibly find the time to buy gifts when Valerie gets in the way of _everything_?"

"Well...we just gotta hope dat today was de last one..." Gru mused, tending to the boiling pot gracing the hob. "Otherwise, de gurls will be getteeng _notheeng_ for Christmas."

Lucy cringed.

"Oh _goddd_, we just...we _can't_ let this happen, Gru." She put her head in her hands, shaking it in complete dejection. Simply imagining the devasted looks on the girls' faces when they see a giftless Christmas tree was enough to upset her dearly. "This is the first Christmas we're gonna have together since we got married. A good mom would _never_ let their daughters go without presents on a day that special. I bet...I bet they're gonna _hate me_!"

Lifting his head, Gru quickly shifted his attention away from making dinner, to be focused on an exclamation that took absolute priority.

"Come on, Lucy, don't be silly. De gurls love yoo _way _more dan some stupeed gifts." He soothed, moving from behind the counter to sit beside his wife at the table and hold her hand comfortingly. She looked up at him with a hopeless look, dismay filling her head to the brim. "Look, we've still got a leetle while. Even eef we can't get Agnes de doll, we can at least get her..._sometheeng_. Dat's more dan she would've ever got at dat orphanage."

Even with her husband's assured tone of voice, Lucy still seemed upset with the idea of giving Agnes a present that wasn't the unicorn doll she was sincerely hoping for. She had a hard time convincing herself that the child would react any better with a different gift rather than nothing.

Sighing, she leaned her head against Gru's shoulder and closed her eyes, as her husband put his arm around her side and simply held her soothingly.

"Do not worry, Lucy. We can do dis." He spoke, looking up at the ceiling as he spoke.

"I have a feeleeng dat we're gonna have a _great_ Christmas."

* * *

Three years ago, when December rolled around, the minions would wait eagerly for that final speech that their master Gru would give on the stage, overviewing the heists that they'd perpetrated and congratulating them all individually for their efforts. He'd then start detailing some evil plans for the new year and set them certain tasks to complete over Christmas.

Well, since meeting him, it appeared Dru was stepping in for his brother quite well.

The army of yellow creatures were cheering relentlessly as the blonde villain triumphantly strolled down the walkway, a smile exploding from his giddy face. He shot some of them winks and gave a few a high-five, but in pure excitement for his very first Christmas speech, he found himself unable to control his growing pace.

Within a minute, he was standing center-stage, looking out over every minion in the lab, plus Dr. Nefario. He paused for a few seconds to simply admire the cheers, as if he was some sort of beloved celebrity, before clapping his hand commandingly. Within a fraction of a second, the whole room fell silent.

"Now, I do not theenk I need to explain why I called yoo all here today." The minions rapidly nodded in unison, an immense air of anticipation surrounding the vicinity. "I know yoo guys probably missed de Christmas speech last year, after my brother went all soft and joined de AVL..."

The minions all nodded again, however this time, with a slightly more solemn tinge in the air.

"But theengs are not so different around here anymore. Gru may have kicked de bucket on villainy, but _we_ certainly _have not_, am I right!?"

The minions all jumped up with an affirming cheer, weapons and tools and...random pieces of fruit being abashedly thrown in the air. Grinning, Dru turned to his right and picked up a small remote from a nearby table, before pressing it and electing a large platform to rise from a hatch in the floor behind him.

An assortment of different items stood valiantly inside glass cases, lights beaming down on whatever it contained. Silence refilled the room as they elevated onto the stage, the attention of every minion being instantly focused on them. Once the platform came to a halt, the bubbly blonde villain dashed over to the far left item with excitement, throwing his hands in front of it as if he were a presenter advertising a new on-sale product.

"De 'Pintura Realmente Genial' from de Spanish Art Museum! Stealeeng dis was a great start to April!" They all watched the painting inside the glass case with awe, as it gleamed like some form of jewel. "De credit goes to Mark and Anthony for dis one! Great work, yoo guys! Couldn't have done eet weethout yoo!"

Mark and Anthony beamed inside the crowd, as all the minions surrounding the two of them clapped in congratulations. As they did so, Dru bounded over to the next glass case, presenting in the exact same fashion as the last.

"Next was de 'Totem of Promise' from Tahiti! An even better end to de month! Phil and Stewart get de nod on dis one! _Brilliant_ contribution!"

Another round of claps rose throughout the room for the two minions, who just like Mark and Anthony, grinned with pride. That same cycle would continue for every single stolen artifact on stage, what with Dru thanking the minions that helped, and those same minions standing there in a fantastic bask of their own glory.

Once Dru finished going over every single heist and giving congratulations, he returned to the center of the stage and carried on with his speech, this time concerning a slightly different topic.

"And dat ees not includeeng de heists we conducted _weethout _stealeeng sometheeng! Like when we hacked all de advertisement screens een New York and replaced dem weeth an alien invasion warneeng message! Everyone got _so_ freaked out!"

The room filled itself with laughter, as they all recalled the moment that everyone in the street started running about in absolute terror and panic for the incoming alien invasion. Who knows how far it would've gotten if the AVL didn't hack it back from them and alert the citizens of what happened? Either way, it was a pretty funny moment, so they'll take that as a success.

If only what happened a few weeks later didn't ruin it...

Once the laughter began dying down, Dru gave a small sigh and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, his gaze directed off to the side in uncertainty. "Of course...den dere was what happened een July."

The room fell completely silent at that moment, with the stark reminder of their one and only true failure this year. What made that particular situation even worse was that they were pretty much forced into working _against_ themselves. It was a villain's worst nightmare, to forcefully undo all of the work that they'd put in prior, and it was a part of the year that they sincerely wished never happened.

Especially considering the possible repercussions...

"Ak de la de bellow!" Jerry yelled, attracting the attention of the entire audience. "De ladda on de _pudgee_!"

"Look, my brother promised dat he wouldn't tell Vixon dat we were involved!" Dru yelled back, as the whole crowd exchanged slightly worried glances. "He wouldn't go back on sometheeng like dat, I _know_ he wouldn't! As much as he hates villainy, he definitely wouldn't let dat guy hurt us!"

The doubtful looks on the minions' faces refused to subside, and in an effort to defend his final decision of betraying Vixon and informing his brother and sister-in-law of his plan, he frowned and continued ranting.

"Plus, Vixon went way, _way _too far weeth dat statue theeng. Eef we deedn't tell Gru and Lucy what was goeeng on, den dat explosion could've killed _a tonne_ of innocent people, and _we_ would've taken a part of de blame! Do yoo guys _want_ dat to happen!? Huh!?"

The minions simultaneously sighed and shook their heads, that worry still slightly present in the air. However, the reasoning, they supposed, was entirely justified. As they've always said, even when Gru was their full-time villainy master, killing anyone in their heists was completely off the cards. Additionally, if that explosion had gone off and the girls happened to be nearby, then...

No. Dru was completely right. They made the correct decision.

"Okay, so, let's just..._move on_." Dru stated, calming his tone of voice down considerably. That ordeal was nearly five whole months ago, there was no need to get themselves worked up over it again. "Apart from dat little mishap, I'd say we've had a pretty great year, guys! Well done!"

With that exclamation, the minions quickly brightened up and got back to celebrating happily. Considering that Dru had only taken Gru's place as their villain master in March, they'd still had a number of more successful and fulfilling heists this year than every single year they had under Gru. Of course, that might be because Gru and Nefario had spent a lot of their time ironing out the details of the moon heist, but either way, it was a massive achievement in their books.

However, what they didn't know, was that the year wasn't quite over yet...

"But...seence theengs _have_ gone so well..." Dru began, smirking as he cast a look across the army of now intrigued assistants. "How about we finish theengs off weeth one final heist? A heist dat weel make de others look pathetic?" All of the little creatures' eyes were now three times as wide. "De absolute textbook heist as a perfect end to de year?"

Everyone immediately started cheering and shouting happily, for what must've been the fifth or sixth time throughout the whole speech. Dru nodded and smiled elatedly as he watched their overzealous reaction, the exhilaration transferring from them to him in bucket loads. Alike his brother in this moment, he lifted his arms in the air heroically, soaking up the atmosphere before him.

But, unfortunately, the ring of his cellphone quickly shifted his attention.

After fishing it out of his pocket, Dru offered his elderly scientist associate an odd look when he spied his caller ID on-screen, who simply returned a very deep glare. He watched him in befuddlement for a further few seconds before answering the call and lifting the device to his ear.

"Are you insane!?" The blonde winced and was quickly forced into pulling it away again. "Do you know how hard it is to avoid getting caught around Christmas!? There's people flipping _everywhere_!" Dru cast a concerned look at him from on stage, as the minions continued to celebrate ecstatically around him. "It can't be done! I'm not a miracle worker!"

"Hey, chillax," Dru responded, as if he'd literally transformed into an exact clone of his brother within a moment. "Dis heist ees not even dat difficult. Eet shouldn't take us too long to get eet done."

"Either way, you're taking a very stupid risk." The doctor was giving the excited man a harsh frown from within the crowd, using it to try and persuade him otherwise. "Not to mention that Gru will hit the ceiling if he has to go out and stop us this close to Christmas."

"Well, my brother knew what he was getteeng eento when he joined de stupeed AVL," He replied, rolling his eyes with a frown in the process. "So I'm sure dat he can _deal_ weeth eet."

Hanging up, Dru brought the smile back to his face and authoritatively clapped his hands again, quickly returning the room to silence. He watched the minions for a small moment with a happy smile, before moving over to the table again and picking up another, slightly larger remote. Upon pressing it, the Jumbotron sprang to life, and an image of an odd-looking building surrounded by funnels and pipes appeared on-screen.

"Dis ees de city's power production plant." Dru announced, strolling around the stage as if he were a commanding officer in the army. "I want everyone to research on dis place and get me full blueprints of de interior's layout. As well as dat, I would like to know de location of every single CCTV camera and burglar alarm on-site. Yoo all have one hour to get dat completed. Not _any_ later. Ees dat clear?"

"Uh..._okay_?" Nefario spoke from within the crowd, this time completely audible without the deafening cheers of the minions. "But why?"

"Well, dat's a good question, Nefario. Yoo see, tonight..." Taking a moment, he glanced down at the floor, pausing for effect.

"De city's gonna have to go weethout power."

* * *

A ray of natural light floated in through the bars, slightly brightening the very dim jail cell. Sat on the bed that was obscured by darkened shadows was a brown-haired man with a slightly built-up figure, an angered expression accompanying him. He looked deep in thought, and based on the look that was plastered to his face, those thoughts probably weren't very pleasant.

He did this a lot nowadays. In prison, the only thing he could really do in his free time was sit and just think about things, conducting ideas, plans, schemes...most of which revolved around revenge. In fairness, how could he help it when a picture of his parents was sat right there on the wall in front of him, the sun's light gracing it in a heavenly glow?

Balling his fists, a drawing he made of Gru, that was pinned up right beside his parents, caught in his gaze. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't suppress the instant explosion of anger from within. He'd drawn that little picture of him atop a battered-up tissue around a month ago, as a way of reminding himself of his new job in life.

To get rid of Gru. To cripple the AVL. To get revenge on society for what happened all those years ago.

Standing from the bed, he strolled over to the barred window built into the wall and caught a gaze of the outside world. The darkened sky was covered in clouds, the wind was racing against the trees, and the streets were void of human life. It was a horrible night.

A night that would've been perfect for his revenge...

"I swear, Gru. I swear on my parents grave..." He muttered under his breath, his entire body shaking with rage.

"You have not seen the last of Vixon."

* * *

_I'll be releasing new chapters of this all throughout the month, right up to Christmas Eve. This story, in fact, is the entire reason why I haven't been posting for four months. I've put a whole lot of planning into this, so hopefully, I stick to my promise and the chapters will actually be released._

_The Outbreak will be continued next year, as well. That story has been a lot more difficult to write than I originally anticipated, so it's gonna need some time._

_All reviews are appreciated :)_


	2. Some High-Pitched Blonde Guy

_Thanks to all that reviewed on the last chapter! Appreciate the support :)_

* * *

**Chapter Two:**  
_**Some High-Pitched Blonde Guy**_

Later that same evening, after finishing up dinner, Gru and Lucy sent the girls upstairs to play in their room, giving them a chance to sit at the kitchen table and search through a gift catalog in peace. They originally planned to put them to bed, but since it was still around an hour until their bedtime, they feared arousing suspicion if they did it too early.

Margo was quite the attentive girl. She'd be onto them in moments.

Prior to that night, they hadn't actually decided upon gifts for everyone, mainly because they simply couldn't find the time. Agnes had been harping on about the unicorn for a few weeks now, but the other two were being quite secretive on the matter, an especially rare event in Edith's case. That girl was usually too easily excited to keep secrets.

So, to rectify that, Gru was currently noting down ideas on a small notepad, while Lucy scrolled through the catalog in search for said ideas and calling them out to her husband. Thankfully, after only twenty-five minutes, the couple were certain that they'd made some great progress.

"Okay," Gru began, pausing to note down another proposed idea. "I theenk dat ees Margo and Edith done. Ees dere anytheeng else we needed?"

"Don't think so," Lucy replied, shrugging as she set her gaze back down on the book set out in front of her. To give her credit, she was doing a great job of fishing out possible gifts from the pretty large catalog, a sign of a mom who knows their kids very well. "We already know what Agnes wants, and Fritz is getting Dru's gift prepared." She lifted her head again to look at Gru, a slight expression of discomfort on her face. "I still feel bad about asking him to do it. That guy's already pretty busy as it is."

"Eh, don't worry about eet." Gru replied. "Dru told me dat Fritz just lounges around de mansion when he's away, so dis will give heem sometheeng to do."

"If you say so." Lucy closed the catalog and gently took the notepad out of Gru's grasp, which she glared at to confirm every gift. "Right, so, we'll order these gifts online tonight, get to bed, and then spend tomorrow searching for Agnes's unicorn doll. Ya think we've still got enough time to do this?"

"Should do." Gru idly took a sip of his cup of tea, which he'd fixed twenty minutes ago to calm the couple down. He had to admit, even though he didn't have a very prominent sweet tooth, this time of year just begged for hot chocolate. "De gifts take two days to be delivered, so as long we order dem tonight, everytheeng should be fine."

"What if they're sold out?"

Gru winced, shaking his head as if that very possibility physically pained him. "Den we'll have a problem."

Lucy glanced upwards in thought, appearing more upbeat compared to her earlier bout of stress.

"There's no way all of this will be sold out at the same time." She cast another look down at the notepad, examining each and every gift for what must've been the thirteenth time in the last five minutes. "What other kids would want _these_ kinda things for Christmas?"

Gru couldn't help but chuckle a little before responding.

"Well, dat ees one of de perks of haveeng de most unique children een de world." He answered, giving his spouse a warm smile, a type of which she couldn't help but respond with. "Nobody else can compare to dem."

"Yeah...I'm glad they're so unique." She replied, looking down at the table, appreciating her life for a moment. "I mean, not _just_ because of the gifts. It...it just makes them even more special."

Gru grinned and scooted across the booth seat, getting closer to his spouse.

"Every day, I never theenk dat dey can get any more special. Den dey prove me wrong."

Lucy chuckled a little happily, looking into her husband's eyes. "Yep, they always find a way."

The grin on the bald AVL agent's face seemed to grow ever faster, and as he watched his wife and thought about his children, he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so bubbly inside. Even though his eye-lids were still stinging and he genuinely didn't know how he hadn't passed out cold yet, he couldn't imagine a better scenario then he was currently in.

"Deedn't I tell yoo Lucy?" He reached out and grabbed her hand in his, holding it in the exact same way that he did before dinner. "Everytheeng will be fine. Now dat we know what gifts we're getteeng, I'd say we've got dis sorted. Dis Christmas ees gonna be _great_!"

"Yes, well..." Lucy responded, glancing off to the side for a moment. "Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. The AVL could always get in the way of things."

"Y'know, I don't theenk we need to worry about dat." Gru replied, shaking his head, as if there was no part of his mind that considered that a possibility. "No villain would be stupeed enough to start a heist dis close to Christmas, I know eet."

At that point, the cellphone on the table began sadistically vibrating, and the caller ID immediately brightened up on the LED screen. After their elated expressions swapped out to accommodate an apprehensive glare, the couple turned to spy the device in unison, and when the putrid face of Valerie caught in their gaze, it took a lot for them to not smash the phone to tiny little pieces.

Huffing viciously, Lucy turned back in her husband's direction, who looked like he was ready to facepalm himself out of the room.

"You just _had_ to jinx it, didn't you!"

* * *

With a series of alarms whirring around him in all directions, Dru was bulleting down the dimly-lit hallway at a pace he didn't even know he could reach. The only sources of light inside the place were the red sirens spinning above his head, which only seemed to add upon his fearful urgency. A chorus of shouts sounded from behind him, arising from the several muscly members of security that were chasing him through the building.

Panicking, the blonde was yelping a little as he spun his frantic pupils around his surroundings, racking his brain for a method of losing the angered guards. Eventually, after turning down another hallway, he spied a white door with a very small window burrowed into it on his left, and he didn't waste a second in charging through it at pace.

Only a moment later, the guards rounded the corner, and after being met by an empty hallway, they immediately came to a halt. Trying to identify where the white-donned intruder could've disappeared to, the men were resembling flamingos in the way they spun their heads, every inch of the room falling into their line of sight.

After noticing the aforementioned white door gradually flapping back and forth on its hinges, one of them immediately froze and pointed in its direction.

"He's gone down the stair-well!"

Getting back to their previous sprint, the four of them raced through the door and right down the metal staircase, in hot pursuit of the white-suited intruder. However, since they were so consumed by simply chasing their target and overlooking their surroundings, they never noticed him perched in the ceiling corner, using that white suit's sticky mode to stay attached to the wall.

Once the yells of the security slowly started to fade out, Dru released a small sigh of relief and deactivated the sticky option, allowing himself to gracefully fall to the floor. Now back on his feet, he frowned and pressed the button on his earpiece, having to deter the urge to growl aggressively so that he could speak in an articulate manner.

"Nefario, deed yoo put your heareeng-aids een?" He hissed, trying to keep his voice as low as possible. "I told yoo to deactivate de _freakeeng alarms_."

"Yes, yes, I know! I did try to tell you." Nefario was rapidly jabbing at buttons on his beefy laptop, which was currently running an exceedingly complex program. He was sat in the passenger seat of the metal airship, which was being piloted near the power plant by Dave the minion. "There was a secondary firewall. Looks like this place went quite heavy on the security."

"Yoo can say dat again." Dru cast a frightened look down the stairwell, ensuring that the guards had definitely disappeared. Thankfully, for now, he appeared to have lost them. "Look, just...turn de stupeed theengs off, would yoo? I can barely hear myself speak."

"Okay, okay, hold on to your horses." Nefario stated, as he continued to spam the buttons. Eventually, the brute force unlocker opened, and the program started scanning through millions of different combinations, in search of the correct one. After only six seconds, it figured out the password and gave a confirming beep, handing the elderly scientist complete access to the system. "Alright, I'm in."

Within a moment, all the alarms within the complex shut off, returning the interior to both silence and darkness. Grinning, Dru removed his finger from the ear-piece and didn't waste any time in sneaking his way back out into the hallway, which he continued down with an attentive gaze.

Soon, after a short while of traipsing through the interior, he found a large grey door reading 'Authorized Personnel Only' in harsh red font. In the villain world, a door with _that_ kind of sign on it was always hiding something interesting. Bubbling with excitement, the blonde tip-toed over to the door and very carefully pushed it open, allowing him to briefly examine the interior.

However, after spying the member of staff sitting at the main control desk, pushing at buttons with disinterest, he quickly pulled himself back out.

Sighing a little, Dru lowered his head and took some time to consider his options. It was crystal clear that the control desk inside that room was what he was searching for, but while that guy was sat in front of it, there wasn't a chance he was going to get there unnoticed.

It seemed that he only really had one choice. He didn't particularly want to go through with it, considering that those security guards couldn't have been the only thing those alarms had alerted, but right now, he was in way too deep to try anything too risky.

Lifting his finger to the earpiece again, Dru pressed the button and re-established contact with the airship.

"Nefario?" He whispered, focusing hard on keeping his voice as quiet as humanly possible. "Ees Carl and Jerry weeth yoo?"

"Uh...yes." Nefario replied, casting a glance at the minions, who jumped up and barreled over to the microphone the moment they heard their names.

"_Bello_!"

Dru winced under their sudden loud voices and frowned slightly.

"Yes, yes, _hello_." He paused for a moment to push the door open a crack, which he momentarily investigated again. Sure enough, the employee was still sat there, none-the-wiser to the villain's presence. "Do yoo guys have your harnesses on?"

"Si! Si!" They replied elatedly, jumping up and down a little on the aircraft. It was clear they were absolutely buzzing to get involved.

"Okay, good. Now, I need yoo to leesten very closely." Dru spread an examining glare throughout the room, and once his gaze landed on the ceiling, he stopped and grinned lightly. "I need yoo guys to come down and smash through de skylight of dis room. Once yoo're een here, run through de nearest door and get de guy to chase after yoo, alright?"

"Okay! Okay!" They exclaimed, hurriedly dashing over to the vehicle's exit door. Pure excitement clouding their judgment, they opened it up and launched forward to jump out, but fortunately for them, were abruptly stopped by Nefario.

"Wait! Wait! The harnesses aren't attached to anything." He exclaimed, getting up from his seat and grabbing the end of the ropes. Once they were attached to a small handle on the side of the door, put there exclusively for harness usage, the elderly scientist turned back to the two minions and put his hand up to signal for them to wait, something they were clearly having trouble doing. "Dave, you heard Dru, right? We're looking for a skylight."

"Uh-huh! Dee la nat too!" Dave responded loudly, as he twisted the control stick and guided the airship over the roof of the plant. Sure enough, they quickly spotted the skylight in question, and without needing to be asked, Carl and Jerry rushed forward and leaped out of the door.

Producing an exceedingly loud crash, the two minions exploded through the skylight and quickly descended towards the floor. But, before they were struck by a pretty painful injury, they were quickly pulled back upwards by the harness and were left hovering slightly over the ground.

Absolutely terrified, the employee at the desk leaped up and shrieked, almost tripping over the chair he was just sat upon. Once his eyes adjusted to the little yellow creatures, who were quickly undoing the harnesses around their tiny waists, he didn't know what to do or say first. In fairness, there probably wasn't an assumable way to react in this situation.

He knew the abrupt start and stop of those alarms had to have been something. That isn't something that happens for no reason.

"Hey!" He yelled, regaining his confidence after shaking himself out of the shock. "You're not supposed to be in here! This is a restricted area!"

Once Carl and Jerry finally escaped the harness and landed safely on their feet, they quickly turned to the man, and in impressive synchronization, blew a raspberry at him. Frowning, the man pushed the chair out of his way and charged after the creatures, who laughed and ran out of the room at a crazy speed.

After hearing the wild footsteps from within the room, Dru leaped to his right and pressed himself against the wall beside the door, ensuring that the employee didn't notice him when he came sprinting through it in pursuit of the minions. Once they'd disappeared down the hallway, he was clear to proceed.

Grinning, the blonde villain slinked into the room and rushed over to the open skylight, where he looked up at the hovering airship and gave Nefario an instructive thumbs-up. Returning a nod, the scientist traipsed over to Dave and returned to his seat, the minion watching him with intrigue while carefully trying to control the vehicle.

"We're clear. Descend on to the roof."

"Okay!" Dave replied, as he abided by the instruction and gradually lowered the aircraft onto the top of the building. Once they were safe to leave, he and Nefario jumped out of the door and clambered over to the skylight, where Dave climbed down the harness rope that was dangling through it and landed on the floor below with a light thump.

Nefario would do the same, but considering that age had severely compromised his fitness, would not do it at the same speed. In fact, after getting around 30% of the way down into the room, which wasn't even very tall to begin with, he started to lose his grip and would eventually fall.

Thankfully, since he was stood right beneath him, Dru managed to lightly catch him in his arms and set him back down on his feet, but after doing so, he received an extremely irate expression from the villain. It was clear that the slightly rough landing aggravated his fragile back, since his posture had seen much better days.

"_This_ is the reason why I stay in the lab. My days of _going out _on heists are bloody-well finished." Dru rubbed his neck awkwardly, only providing an apologetic smile and shrug in response. "What is the reason for me to be in this heck hole, anyway?"

"Well, eef we're gonna turn de power off for de city..." He began, directing Nefario's attention to the control panel. "Den I need somebody here who can decipher de control panel."

The scientist adjusted his goggles and strolled over to the desk, which he examined briefly. After a short while, Dru and Dave followed on, but the moment that they were standing right behind the elderly man, he turned back around and offered the blonde another frown.

"Dru...I'm sure you can handle this yourself."

"What!? _Me_!?" Shocked, he looked over the control panel closely, and after being met by a countless number of different buttons and switches, he couldn't resist the urge to shake his head angrily. "I can't work dis tech...technol..._technololology_ stuff! Dat's _your_ theeng! Eef yoo're just gonna make _me_ do eet, den what ees de point of workeeng together!?"

"Yes...I understand that, Dru, but..." Nefario took a step to the right, and in doing so, revealed a large, glowing yellow button with massive block text beneath it reading 'MAIN POWER SWITCH'. He had to admit, the way Dru's face completely fell and transformed into an exceedingly embarrassed look was unexpectedly entertaining to the doctor, especially considering how infuriating this situation was.

"This one is a _little bit_ simple."

* * *

"I cannot believe dat absolute _idiot_!"

Gru was aggressively strapping on his outdoor attire in the hallway, pushing absolutely every object and piece of furniture out of his way as he did so. Lucy stood near him in total silence, buttoning up her blue coat with a frown. Upon initially finding out of her brother-in-law's escapades, she was a little unsure of how to react.

Soon enough, she settled on silent, preserved anger.

"I swear I'm gonna _kill him_ when we get dere! Out of all de times for him to break into de power plant, _why_ deed he have to pick now!?"

"Well, are we totally sure it's Dru?" Lucy questioned, sighing as she secured the final button. "Remember, we made sure the AVL don't know him by name, so it could really be anyone."

"Lucy, come on, _theenk_ about eet!" Gru replied roughly, holding his hands out as he rolled his eyes with exasperation. "What other villain een de profession could be described as 'some high-pitched blonde guy'!? Dat's got Dru's name written _all over eet_!"

"Okay, okay, I'm...I'm just saying." She motioned for him to chill out slightly, and after he huffed and turned away from her to aggressively pull at the coat rack, she realized that there probably wasn't much point in doing so initially.

When it came to general daily life, Gru definitely had a much shorter temper than her. Considering that the thought of Dru perpetrating a heist and very likely ruining their final opportunity to order Christmas gifts online was angering _her_ substantially, she didn't really blame him for being a little irritable right now.

In fact, he was even worse five minutes ago. When Valerie started explaining the situation that was going on at the power plant in her familiar infuriating tone, she had to actively steal the phone from him before he jumped down the director's throat. However, when she relayed the information to her in the same fashion as well, it was very difficult for the female agent to not make that same mistake.

"When's dat babysitter comeeng?" He grumbled.

"Shouldn't be too long." Lucy dragged her sleeve up to inspect her digital watch. "According to the ad, he doesn't live that far away."

"Hmph...I'm still not sure about dis." He replied, turning back to face his spouse, that frown still visible on his face. "Leaveeng a stranger weeth de gurls. I _really_ don't like de idea of dat."

"Well, he's not _exactly_ a stranger." She corrected, double-checking that her lipstick taser was in her coat-pocket. "I kinda know the guy. I used to see him all the time in the superstore, buying supplies for his grandmother. He seems really nice."

"Yeah, he _seems_ really nice." Gru responded, patting his coat until he could feel the freeze-ray, just in case. "Yoo can't judge a book by deir cover, Lucy. What eef we're leaveeng dem weeth a closet psychopath?"

Lucy huffed and glanced into space for a moment, growing impatient. Truthfully, she just wanted to get this mission over and done with, not sit here furthering her worry about their daughters' safety while they were gone.

"Okay, so, _who_ else can take care of them?" She questioned. "Your mother's not gonna come here this time of night, Dr. Nefario's gone out with Dru, and _you_ won't let me ask Fred from next-door."

"Dat man..." Gru began, his voice suddenly growing dark, as if Fred had been the source of his torture for many, many years. "Ees _not_ comeeng een my house."

"God Gru, you're acting like he didn't come to our freaking _wedding_." Lucy's voice grew tired and angry for a moment, but after processing her aggressive tone, she took a moment to calm herself back down. "Are you 100% sure that Nefario went with him, by the way?"

"Certain." Gru replied, nodding without any doubt. "Valerie said dat de alarms and cameras have been deactivated, and my brother _definitely_ isn't smart enough to hack into de security system. But eef _Nefario_ ees een de vicinity, den _he_ sure can."

Lucy held her arms out a little, using them as a method of persuasion.

"Alright, so, it's either a babysitter or we leave them on their own."

Gru let out a long and hefty sigh before replying.

"A lose-lose situation, den." He rubbed a hand across his strained forehead, feeling the fatigue bulge from inside. All he wanted was a nice rest in his bed after a long day's hard work. Was that _really_ too much to ask? Well, to Dru, it seemed that was the case. "Remind me to call Fritz back and tell him to _stuff_ dat stupeed Christmas present."

At that moment, the doorbell rang and a light knock graced the door, immediately grabbing their attentions. While Gru simply growled and stared at the house's entrance with clear rage, Lucy strolled over and opened it, coming face-to-face with a blonde-haired man in his early twenties. Upon spying Lucy, he seemed a little surprised.

"_Oh_...hello again, Miss Wilde." He greeted, giving her a very polite smile. In order to return it comfortably, Lucy had to push the reasoning behind this impromptu babysitter out of her head, a difficult task within itself. "I didn't realize I was babysitting for _you_. It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

"Yeah...sure has." She replied, chuckling a little awkwardly. "Enough time that...well, I'm not _Miss_ _Wilde_ anymore."

"So, _yoo're_ de babysitter!"

Appearing from behind the door, Gru announced that evident sentence in such a way that you'd think he was a king talking down to a peasant who'd been hired as a jester. Obviously, the young man seemed quite taken aback, and after waiting a moment to process the glare he was receiving from the AVL agent, he shook his head and smiled politely again.

"Uh...yes. That is me."

"Well then, please come een." Gru stepped aside to allow an entrance for the man, and the babysitter accepted the invitation graciously.

"Thank you." He walked through the door and into the entrance hallway, where he took a few moments to observe the decor lining the walls. It was very clear, based purely on his agape mouth, that he was seriously impressed. "Wow. I've got to say, this is some _very_ interesting-"

However, before he could finish, a large ray of blue light traveled down his body at an almost blinding speed, and he couldn't help but blink and step back in surprise. Adjusting his gaze, which had blurred slightly after the sudden light consumed him, he found Gru standing in a strange pose, an unidentified device pointed in his direction.

"Gru, wh..." Lucy looked him up and down with an angered expression for a moment, before eventually noticing the object in his hands. It looked like some form of high-tech weaponry. "What the_ hell_ are you doing!?"

"Just checkeeng." Gru pressed a button on the device, which elected a small screen on the handle to light up. He examined it closely for a few seconds, leaving the other two to stand in confused silence, before nodding and looking the babysitter directly in the eyes. "Not present een de AVL database. No criminal records. No reports of mental instability. Dat ees a sufficient start, at least."

Holding the bridge of her nose, Lucy found it difficult not to sigh, even if a light humored smile was gracing her face.

"Ugh...I'm so sorry about this." She spoke, averting her gaze back to the babysitter, who was evidently quite on edge. "Y'know, it's Christmas, we have three daughters. It does get kinda stressful this time of year. It's probably..._messing_ with his head a bit."

"O-oh, of course. I...I understand." He replied, turning back to Gru, who was glaring at him deeply with his hands behind his back. The young man continued to watch the bald agent for a short while, and after a moment of realization, his expression slowly morphed into happy shock. "Wait...I _knew_ I recognized you. You work for the AVL, don't you?"

Gru narrowed his eyes threateningly.

"Dat depends on who wants to know."

The babysitter cleared his throat nervously. "W-well, I've been following your work ever since the PX-41 fiasco. I've got to admit, I'm kind of a fan."

Gru's dark look quickly began subsiding as he spoke, his head rising out of curiosity. At that moment, the babysitter turned and pointed a little in Lucy's direction, all while the smile on his expression continued to grow.

"I didn't realize it was _that_ Lucy that you got married to."

"Yeah..." She replied, chuckling a little as she glanced at her husband. His whole expression had softened at this point, and she could tell that a small stroke of his ego had seemed to calm his uncertainty a lot. She couldn't help but find that fact slightly amusing. "Thankfully, it is."

"That's crazy." The babysitter continued, turning back towards Gru, who was giving Lucy a small smile. "You know, if it's any consolation..." The former villain's attention was quickly consumed again, giving the babysitter an indifferent look. "I think you deserved a pay-rise after the whole Vixon incident."

A small frown returning, Gru carried on watching the babysitter with an overly acute glare, as if he'd suddenly continued his intensive investigation of him all over again. Both Lucy and the young man stood in silence as he did so, clearly awaiting some sort of reaction.

Eventually, after nearly ten seconds, he provided one.

"Okay, I like dis guy."

Lucy simply couldn't suppress a laugh. Even when he was driving her a little crazy with his worries, somehow, Gru still always found a way to make her chuckle.

* * *

As she messaged her friends on her phone, telling them of her pure excitement regarding Christmas, Margo sat against the pillow on her bed with a satisfied smile gracing her expression, the sound of holiday-themed songs catching in her ears. She'd sneaked down into the lab a few days back and borrowed one of the minions' radios, so that the sisters could get into the Christmas spirit completely.

Even Edith and Agnes's bickering couldn't kill that great feeling in her head.

"Agnes, what did I _just _say!?" Edith yelled, turning to her little sister as they both sat in front of their dollhouse, the likes of which was filled with many different kinds of toys. "No unicorns are allowed in the living room when the ninja alliance are planning their super-spy mission!"

"But she's interested!" Agnes whined, pulling the toy further into the tiny room full of ninja related action figures, an action that proved to frustrate Edith further. "_And_ she wants to help take down the bad guys."

"No! Only ninjas are allowed to take down bad guys." The tomboy grabbed the unicorn from Agnes's hand and roughly slammed it down on the floor, which alike the house, was also covered in toys. Maybe, just maybe, they had a bit too many of them.

As if she'd just been the victim of a heinous crime, Agnes gasped and quickly reached forward to grab it back.

"No, no, don't take her out of the house!" She shrieked, placing the unicorn inside the tiny kitchen, in the hopes that Edith would leave it alone. "She's waiting for the special fairy unicorn to visit so that they can become friends!"

At that point, Margo glanced up at the little girl with a light frown, but before she had the chance to speak, the beeping of her mobile phone temporarily snatched her attention away. It was clear that the device's battery had run out, evident by the screen's decision to turn off. Huffing, she placed the phone beside the electrical socket, as a reminder to put it on charge, before returning her gaze to her little sister.

"Agnes, you don't know if you're gonna get that toy yet." She immediately attracted the attention of the little girl, who was obviously quite on-edge. "If you get too excited, it'll make you very upset if you don't get it."

"But mom _said_!" She quickly turned away from the dollhouse, the idea of not getting that unicorn absorbing every ounce of her attention. "I've been a really good girl, so why _wouldn't_ I?"

Before Margo had the chance to respond, the door to the bedroom slowly opened and their parents came trudging into the room, completely stealing the attention of her little sisters.

Before leaping to her feet and running over to her bomb bed, Agnes quickly double-checked that the unicorn was still in the kitchen, just for safety reasons, before racing away. Similarly, Edith kicked her slippers off, jumped over the toys that littered the floor, and did the exact same, except in a bit more of an eccentric style.

Once they were laying happily under their blankets, the two girls turned to the two AVL agents and beamed, but upon noticing their very different attire, their expressions faltered slightly.

"What you wearing that for?" Edith questioned, pulling an odd face as she examined the exact same thick coats they were wearing when they came in earlier. Gru gave a small sigh before responding.

"Well, yoo see, gurls. Your uncle ees a complete..." He paused for a long moment to search his vocabulary bank, trying to find a non-explicit word that was suitable to be used in front of children. "..._unintelligent person_...and he theenks dat heisteeng on de _22nd of December_ ees a good idea."

It was very clear that Gru was having difficulties controlling the level of his voice, based on the way he was clamping his teeth together to stop himself from screaming in front of the girls. Edith and Agnes exchanged quick concerned looks before the former continued with her questions.

"So, what about our bedtime story?"

"Sorry, kiddo, but we're gonna have to give it a miss tonight." Lucy answered, receiving instant sounds of discontent in response. The two parents shared short solemn glances before she continued. "I know, I know, we're upset as well, but this ain't our fault."

"Yeah, blame _Dru_." The more time that passed, the more venom built up in Gru's voice when he spoke his brother's name.

"What about _goodnight kisses_!?" Agnes exclaimed, sitting up in bed, a look of total panic exploding from her face. This time, before continuing, the two parents shared short warm smiles.

"Dere's always time for dat."

Agnes instantly beamed and laid back down, obviously a lot more satisfied now that the kisses were back on the table.

As Gru and Lucy went around and gave Edith and Agnes that desired kiss, plus a tight bonus cuddle for having to miss out on the story, Margo removed her glasses and grinned a little, suddenly seeming a lot more elated.

"So, uh, I guess you'll have to leave us on our own then, huh?"

"No, eet's all sorted." He replied, moving over and pressing a small kiss on the twelve-year-old's forehead. "We've hired a babysitter, so dere ees no need to worry."

Margo's smile was quickly erased.

"Wait, what?" She began, frowning. "You...you hired a _babysitter_?"

"Yeah, dey're downstairs." Coming to a quick realization, Gru turned to his middle-child with a small frown, who was in the process of giving Lucy a hug. "Now, do not get any ideas, Edith. Stay een bed and leave de babysitter alone. Otherwise, Santa ees not goeeng to be very happy."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She grumbled in response, laying down and drooping her hat over her eyes.

Margo put her head down a little, feeling the frown on her face grow. Did they seriously not trust her to keep her sisters safe? She'd been doing it well before they were in the picture, so surely, she was much more qualified than some stupid babysitter that they didn't even know.

Before she had the chance to raise her head and berate her parents for their senseless decision, all the lights in the bedroom switched off, as well as the radio, and the words died in her throat before she had the chance to release them.

It appeared that the power was cut out.

"Alright, gotta go, girls!" Lucy exclaimed, as her and Gru raced out of the room, their rapid footsteps slamming the floor hard in the pitch black. "We love ya!"

When the door quickly slammed shut, the twelve-year-old was left to simply frown in the dark, the only light source being the slight glimmer of the moon. The more she thought about their lack of trust, the more she felt herself growing upset. Huffing, she slumped down on the pillow with a thump and closed her eyes, trying to let sleep overcome her irritated thoughts. However, that proved to be a little harder than she originally assumed.

_'I'll show them...' _She thought to herself, continuing to frown as she laid there. _'I'm the most trustworthy sister in the whole world.'_

* * *

_I sincerely hope you enjoyed!_

_If you decide to review, it's very much appreciated :)_


	3. Power Down

_Still managing to release chapters on time! Don't know how much longer I keep up this momentum! Hopefully, forever._

_Thanks again to everyone who reviewed!_

* * *

**Chapter Three:**  
_**Power Down**_

Today, it appeared, was a lucky night for Vixon. Very rarely is he fortunate enough to find a _rock_ inside his cell.

Not only that, but one that was small enough to kick around without causing any pain to his foot, nor _too_ small that kicking the floor was a lot more likely. For a good half-an-hour now, as a method of passing time, he was contentedly kicking the small object around the cell. He had to admit, he was quite enjoying it. It was actually a very effective form of escapism.

Well, that was until he kicked it a little too hard, and with a frown, was forced to watch it fly in between the cell bars and land in the adjacent hallway, completely out of his grasp. Angrily, he let out a sigh and slumped back down onto the uncomfortable bed, unwillingly returning to stewing inside his own thoughts.

He wasn't an idiot, he knew he was probably going a little crazy. Producing that much entertainment from a god-damn rock definitely wasn't healthy.

Of course, it shouldn't be a surprise, considering that the only activities you could do around here was exercise or think. Seeing that the exercise yard was currently closed for the night, and thinking wasn't particularly the most entertaining of pastimes, there was literally nothing to do.

Every inmate was actually supposed to be asleep right now, but at this point, Vixon was sick and tired of abiding by prison rules. They made absolutely no sense, and it was very clear that they were only there to further extend upon the misery this hellhole exerted. So, similar to how he acted in public, he was going to rebel.

Thinking about it, his parents would probably be proud of him right now...

Sorrowfully sighing, the young man turned to look at the small photo again, his deceased mother and father looking right back at him with that accustomed smile. Tomorrow, it was going to be the tenth-year anniversary since they left home and never came back. It was undoubtedly going to be quite the upsetting day, and he only hoped that the guards treated him with a little more decency to make it more bearable.

Somehow, with unquestionable certainty, he knew that was way too much to ask of them.

Since his family had taken up villainy as their primary source of income, it seemed the AVL had it out for them a lot more than they did for others in the same profession. Over the past ten years, he'd seen villains come and go with different heists that had different levels of success, and in that time, he was yet to see the AVL treat anyone the same as him or his parents.

For example, when the twenty-three-year-old villain 'Asteroid' perpetrated his first heist, he was handed a five-year prison sentence, along with the possibility of parole. When the twenty-six-year-old villain 'Gangrene' perpetrated his first heist, he received a three-year prison sentence, however, he was released early after eighteen-months for _good behavior_.

In fact, when his associate Dru perpetrated his first known heist, the AVL didn't hand him _any_ punishment. He was pretty sure that the stupid company didn't even apprehend him at all regarding the heist _they_ worked on.

Yet, the second that the twenty-one-year-old Vixon joins in and jumps on the trend, he's thrown in prison for _forty_ years, eight times more than what most villains usually got. Not to mention that parole wasn't on the table. How in any way was that fair? It wasn't like he'd killed anyone. Yes, the chance of a fatality was there, but regardless, the outcome caused absolutely no-one harm and the case was treated like the worst heist of the century.

And that isn't even getting started on what happened to his parents...

They were fairly unthreatening villains who were out stealing and selling items to provide for their small family. That was it. They caused absolutely no-one harm, they weren't interested in causing needless damage for the sake of it, and they were only focused on monetary gain.

So, considering all of that, why on _earth_ did the AVL see fit to execute them in cold blood!?

It still infuriated him, it will _always_ infuriate him, and for that reason, he will _not_ allow the AVL to get away with it. Felonious Gru and his equally meddling redhead spouse were their most valuable asset at the moment, and if he managed to rid the two of them from the face of the earth, the AVL would be set back significantly.

It would be a very good start to his revenge on that scumbag corporation.

Once he'd dealt with the agents that imprisoned him, he wouldn't stop there. He'd carry on taking down every big-name employee on their books, steal money from the government to hinder their funding, and perpetrate a series of very specific heists on society, until eventually, the company would lose the trust of the public and fall into bankruptcy.

His name would go down in history, and with it, so would his parents' legacy.

At that moment, violently stealing him from his thoughts, a series of loud clangs startled him substantially and he jerked backward out of fear. Upon lifting his head, the angry prison guard in the hallway, with his baton very near the metal bars, made it quite clear where those abrupt series of noises came from.

"Lights out was forty minutes ago, Vixon!" He exclaimed, as the villainous prisoner expressed a darkened frown. "Get in bed."

"_I_ ain't tired," Vixon replied, crossing his arms in the fashion of a petulant child. "So _that_ ain't happening."

The guard shook his head with a chuckle before he bothered himself with responding.

"Think ya so smart, don't ya?" He leaned forward and gripped the bars tight, staring through the villain with a glare of poison. "Well, hate to break it to ya, kid, but you ain't nothing special. I've met a lotta you young villains before and you're all the same. All talk but no bite." The aggression in Vixon's frown was evolving with every moment that the brutish guard was speaking. "Now get in that bed before I come in there and _make ya_!"

Vixon stood up defiantly, not letting himself get intimidated by some entitled dude in his mid-forties.

"Try me!"

The guard didn't wait to accept the invitation. Unlocking the cell door with his key, he was just about to thunder into the cell and strike Vixon in the abdomen with his baton, but right before he had the chance to take a single step, every light in the whole prison went out.

Completely startled, he came to an abrupt halt and simply stood there for a short while, attempting to figure out if the power had been cut or if he'd fallen prey to an injury and was currently unconscious. But, when his eyes adjusted slightly and the very faint light of the moon beamed from behind the barred window, he realized what had happened.

With pace, he shuffled into his pocket and unleashed his battery-powered flashlight, and upon turning on, felt his heart skip a beat...

Vixon was gone.

Spinning the light source in multiple directions, trying to locate the villain inside the cell, he reluctantly concluded that he'd escaped. Of course, the cell door was wide open. It certainly wouldn't have been difficult for the man to get out of the tiny, derelict room unnoticed.

Panicking, the guard fished through his pockets again, this time in search of his walkie-talkie.

"Inmate 725 has escaped!" He exclaimed down the device, hoping another guard somewhere could hear him. "Repeat, inmate 725 _has escaped_!"

Meanwhile, after sneaking his way past the guard and out of the cell, Vixon was charging his way down the empty, pitch-black corridors of the prison, right past the cells full of fast-asleep prisoners. He could hear some nearby scampering, most likely the guards in search of him, but thankfully, it didn't sound like they were too close for comfort.

Eventually, he made his way out into the prison yard, which again, was extremely lacking in light sources. He could hear some agitated shouting from above, and after taking a very short moment to stop and inspect his surroundings, he realized that they were coming from the nearest guard tower. It was quite obvious that they were having some trouble operating the searchlight, which without power, probably wasn't going to work anytime soon.

Getting back to sprinting, Vixon dashed over to the nearest electric fence and started climbing, which without any actual _electric_, was as safe as houses. A part of his brain was screaming at him to stop, since if the power was to be restored right now, he would be scorched to a crisp within a second. But, pushing his fears aside, the villain made it over and jumped down to the restricted transport roads easily.

This road was where they escorted new inmates to the prison. Or, in other words, this was where the entrance gates were...

The exact ones that lead _outside_ of the prison.

Without another thought, Vixon barreled his way down the concrete, not looking back for a single second. Sure enough, the gates were right there, but evident by their unopened state, were currently locked. Obviously, there had to be a way to get it to open up, and if he could take a guess, the security station built into the wall to the right was probably the best place to start.

Carrying on at a swift pace, he raced into the very small interior and had his gaze immediately caught by the security guard, who thankfully, was fast asleep. It was clear that he'd been watching the small TV to pass the time, and at some point, must've passed out.

A green button sat on the panel in front of him, which must've controlled the gates. But, Vixon quickly realized, it likely wasn't going to operate without power. So, now growing worried, he had to question himself. _How_ was he going to escape? This simply couldn't be a dead-end. He'd made it too far to stumble on one of those.

He knew there had to be another entrance. How else would the guard get in and out without having to keep the gates open permanently? At that moment, he spotted the set of keys hanging gracefully from his belt, and Vixon couldn't control the smile that consumed his expression.

After taking a moment to ensure that the coast was clear, which fortunately it was, he very carefully snatched the keys from the guard and left the station. The moment he left, his gaze fell on the small wired gate built between the building and the gates, and the question of what these keys were used for was instantly answered.

When he practically threw the keys into the lock and twisted at speed, he was given confirmation when he felt the lock click back at him and open up. Pushing through it, Vixon didn't waste a second in sprinting with every morsel of energy that he still retained, as he made his way out of the complex and into the bordering forest.

If the searchlights were useable right now, he wouldn't last a second. But, without them, he was practically invisible.

Soon enough, he was so far away from the prison, that he could already see the faint outline of houses in the distance. At that point, he knew it was safe to stop and catch his breath, which he was in dire need of to prevent death from exhaustion. Thank god he'd spent so much time exercising in the prison, otherwise, he certainly wouldn't have had the fitness to run that much.

If only this was the same forest that his evil lair was hidden inside. That way, it would be a lot easier to keep himself hidden away, for when the power eventually returns. But, either way, this was still massively fantastic.

He'd _escaped_.

He couldn't quite believe it. He didn't know how the power went out, but right now, he couldn't care less. Why would he? He had so many other, more important things to concern himself with. For example...

How was he going to start his revenge?

* * *

Half-an-hour after her parents left in an extremely frantic state, probably since the power was very suddenly cut out by their blonde villainous relative, Margo was irritatingly _still_ awake.

It wasn't like she wasn't tired or anything, she'd actually been feeling so chilled out from the Christmas songs that she thought she was going to pass out right away, but with the thought of Gru and Lucy's mistrust torturing her head, she was working herself up into a bit of an annoyed state.

Over the last two years, she'd shown them many times that she was _more_ than just trustworthy. Take today, for example. She'd stayed with her sisters all afternoon, when Dru thought it best to work on schemes down in the lab, and they didn't get hurt. In fact, she'd _saved_ one of them from injury, yet still, she wasn't being granted even a _tinsy_ bit of trust.

Needless to say, it irked her.

However, she'd be lying if she said that taking care of the two of them was easy, or fun. In fact, because Edith was so intent on furthering the danger in every activity she participated in, it was actually pretty freaking tough. But, still, she loved doing it. She cared about Edith and Agnes a huge amount, and as they grew up together in the orphanage, she'd seen both their highs and lows.

She was there when Miss Hattie took away Agnes's unicorn toy and refused to give it back, and she was there when she'd spent the next fourteen hours crying, with breaks to simply sob so she could catch her breath. Then, to make things more comfortable for the little girl again, the next time they were out selling cookies, she'd used some of the money they made to buy her another one, even at the risk of the caretaker finding out and throwing her in the box of shame.

Was that the behavior of an untrustworthy sister?

She was there when Edith fell off the swing in the park and sprained her ankle pretty bad, where she helped the girl waddle all the way back to the orphanage. When Miss Hattie refused to take the pain-ridden tomboy to the hospital, because she was apparently being '_a silly crybaby_', Margo spent the rest of the week tending to her and keeping as much ice on her foot as possible until it got better.

Was _that_ the behavior of an untrustworthy sister?

And regarding the other side of the coin, she was there when Agnes manipulated around ten different houses with her puppy-dog eyes into buying an absolute ton of cookies, giving the orphanage the highest-selling day in history, which in turn, allowed them to avoid the box of shame.

She was also there when Edith punched a boy in the stomach during recess for making fun of Margo's glasses, something the pink-hatted girl did with the risk of getting a detention. Even if she pretended not to approve, she couldn't deny how much she appreciated it.

Sometimes, she felt extremely, _extremely_ lucky to have sisters like them. Being responsible for keeping them safe and happy actually felt like an honor.

So, when Gru and Lucy would continuously strip her of the chance to do that very thing, it felt kind of insulting, even if the two parents were likely doing it inadvertently. Don't get her wrong, she loved the fact that they cared about them enough to go the extra length in keeping them safe, but at the same time, was she really _so_ untrustworthy that it was too dangerous to keep her alone with them for just a few hours?

She really didn't think so. In fact, she _knew_ so.

By turning over in her bomb bed, and with the use of the moon's very timid light, she took some time to simply watch her two siblings sleep. They both looked so peaceful as they lay snoring lightly under the blankets, most likely dreaming about Christmas, and Santa, and all the gifts they wanted. That thought alone was enough to bring a large smile to Margo's expression.

Maybe she was being a little harsh on Gru and Lucy. At the end of the day, if it wasn't for them, they wouldn't be having a Christmas at all. Instead, they'd be stewing in the cold, lonely orphanage, only being able to _imagine_ Christmas, Santa, and gifts. She had a whole lot to thank them for.

And with that, she too found herself delving into thoughts of Christmas Day. More specifically, thoughts of all the happiness they'd feel together as a family, safe and sound in the comforting warmth of their brilliant home. This would also be the first time that Lucy would be there to spend Christmas with the girls, so that made the day even more exciting to her.

It didn't take long for all those relaxing thoughts to send her off to sleep, into the dreamworld alongside her little sisters...

* * *

Inside the power plant, Dru, Dr. Nefario, and Dave sat beside the main control room's window, looking out over the entire city and the mountainous areas that surrounded it. There wasn't a single flickering light anywhere in view, providing concrete proof that the big yellow button with the affirming text on it did, in fact, work correctly.

The power for the city was gone.

Of course, it could be very easily reconnected, and they knew that. With Christmas being only two days and three hours away, the plan definitely wasn't to keep it off permanently. That would be taking things a little too far, especially when doing that would very likely cause _them_ some problems as well.

Furthermore, it wasn't as if this heist provided them any monetary or reactionary gain. From all the way on the fourth floor of the power plant building, which was already situated atop a pretty steep hill, they couldn't see how people were dealing without electricity, but to them, that didn't particularly matter.

It was more about the achievement to them, the bragging rights. The fact that they can now truthfully tell people that _they_ turned off the power for the whole city was the main goal. As well as that, just the thought that, somewhere, in a multitude of different ways, there were people being very inconvenienced by the sudden power cut, was rewarding enough.

Well, for some of them...

"So, this was pointless." Nefario commented, shaking his head as he listlessly watched the mundane view from the window. He received an almost instant surprised reaction from Dru.

"Are...are yoo _serious_!?" He questioned, entirely flabbergasted. "We just turned off de power for everyone een de _entire city_. How ees dat een anyway _pointless_?"

"Just feels like a waste of time." Nefario moved away from the window and scanned over the control panel again, looking for anything that would do something interesting, or, at the very least, entertaining. "We could be setting up something much more worthwhile right now, rather than watching a bunch of buildings have a jolly time in the dark." Dru huffed and irately turned away from the elderly man, returning to watch the blacked-out city. "Plus, Gru and Lucy are gonna flip when they get here."

"Ehh..." The blonde shrugged, not shifting his gaze. "Who cares? Besides, de AVL might not have sent my brother. Dey could've sent someone else."

"The AVL _always_ send Gru and Lucy." Nefario stated, strolling back over to stand beside Dave, who was oddly captivated by the darkness. "They both have the highest success rate for stopping heists of any other agent. Sending _them_ out to deal with _this_ situation is a no-brainer."

"_Bleh-bleh-bleh, no brainer_." Dru muttered under his breath, turning to Dave as he mimicked Nefario behind his back, retaining the same level of maturity as a young child. "Dave, I thought I asked more of de minions to come. Where are de rest?"

Dave was about to open his mouth to respond, but before he had the chance, Nefario frantically beat him to it.

"Oh, shoot!" He exclaimed, fishing into his pocket and taking out his mobile flip-phone. As he held it up to his ear, he wandered over to the skylight and looked up through it, catching a glimpse of the airship. "Yes, Mel? Yeah, we're inside the plant. Yes, I know, I forgot you were in there. O-okay, I-I know, I know, but things kinda got away from me. _Blimey_, just come down here, would you!"

The scientist pocketed the phone again and turned back to his accomplice, who was frowning with his arms crossed.

"Yoo forgot to tell dem we'd landed, deedn't yoo?"

"Uh..." Nefario looked at the floor for a moment, contemplating whether or not it was worth lying, before raising his head and shrugging. "That compartment is difficult to remember."

Dru rolled his eyes and sighed, holding the bridge of his nose in the same way that his brother would've done. A while ago, Nefario had suggested adding a little compartment onto the airship so that they could transport more minions during heists. It originally seemed like a moment of genius, until the elderly scientist's fragile memory poked a hole in the idea.

At that moment, around twenty minions descended from the skylight in a variety of different ways. Some used the harness to safely enter the room, some managed fairly agile jumps down, while others simply fell from the ceiling and landed with a hefty 'thump' on the floor. Either way, once they'd arrived, they all got to their feet and simultaneously turned to their two masters, awaiting some form of instruction.

"Sorry, guys." Dru began, shrugging a little as he trudged over to the small group. "I theenk de mission ees over. Dere ees notheeng left for yoo to do."

"Awwww!" They cried in unison, slumping their shoulders in disappointment.

"Ablee ta doo _notadoo_?" Mel questioned with a sulk, holding his hands out in a perplexed manner.

"Nope. We've already scared 'em all off." Nefario replied. "We just gotta wait for Gru to get here, so we can all go home."

And then, at that exact moment, the door was almost obliterated off its hinges, and the occupants of the room quickly spun around to spy what was happening. Well, all apart from Dru, who shrieked so loud that he almost startled himself off his own feet.

To their surprise, instead of the two AVL agents that Nefario had literally just mentioned, the four guards that were chasing Dru through the corridors of the complex a little while ago stood there valiantly, holding their batons out as if they were fiercely sharp knives.

"Don't move!" One of them yelled, as he watched the occupants glare back at him. They seemed relatively unfazed, which only proved to irritate him further.

"You're all under arrest for trespassing on private property and tampering with the power system!" Another one added. "So, you can either come with us and do things the easy way..." He extended his baton further towards the large group of villains, most of whom were little yellow things that almost defied mother-nature. "Or, you can try a sample of the _hard way_."

Before they finalized their decision, the minions all turned to look at each other questioningly, as if to check that everyone was on the same page. Then, as if they transformed into miniature lightning bolts, the twenty small creatures unleashed a series of different weapons from their pockets and charged their way towards the four.

Based on the guards' reactions, it was clear that an army of weaponized tic-tacs was the most threatening and terrifying event to happen to them _ever_.

The group of minions chased the guards out of the room and far down the hallway, until eventually, they were well out of sight. Chuckling, Dru rubbed his forehead and strolled forward, attracting Nefario's attention as he stood beside him.

"Whew..." He continued to chuckle a little, a victorious smile on his face. "I thought dose guys were Gru and Lucy."

Finally, on his second attempt, Dru got his unwanted wish.

The two AVL agents leaped down from the open skylight, landing directly behind both Dru and Nefario with highly aggressive expressions on their faces. This time, when Dru exclaimed his signature startled shriek, no relief came to undo his fear. Nope, on this occasion, Gru and Lucy were _actually_ here.

For a few long seconds, the two villains and the two AVL agents simply stood there and watched each other, an uncomfortable, angered silence hovering between them all. Eventually, Gru raised his arm and pointed at his brother slightly, his limbs shaking in pure acrimony.

"Do yoo understand..." He began, his teeth clenched together like a vice. He took a small moment to steady his voice, which was cracking up a little with anger. "How _annoyeeng_ yoo are?"

Dru took that as a sign to start running away.

The blonde spun at pace and launched himself out of the room, propelling down the hallway at the same pace he was using earlier to escape the guards. Gru and Lucy immediately chased after him, but when a nonchalant Nefario got caught in their path, they stopped to give him an odd look.

"I'm in my eighties." He replied, shrugging as he held his arms up in surrender. "I'm not running anywhere."

The married couple shot each other a momentary glance before carrying on with their quick sprinting, making their way out of the room and into the hallway. Dru was a small distance away, running through the building in his usual overly-eccentric style. They raced on after him, and after noticing how quickly the two were catching up, the villain didn't waste a moment in thundering through the nearest door.

Gru and Lucy were doing the exact same only a few seconds later, and once they were standing inside the very room that Dru currently occupied, they threw their gazes around like flamethrowers. They were surprised not to find a single human entity inside. Only tables, chairs, and computers. He must be around here somewhere. They literally just watched him run inside.

As the two agents strolled further in to inspect underneath the tables, Dru very silently sneaked behind them, finding it quite easy to go unnoticed while using the suit's invisibility function. He carefully pushed himself through the door, and after a short while of slowly trudging down the hallway, barreled his way back towards the main control room.

Once inside, he quickly strutted up to Nefario and motioned his head towards the dangling harness as he did so.

"Come on, we gotta get back up to de airship."

"Eh, don't worry about me, Dru," Nefario replied, shrugging as he fell onto the nearest seat, awaiting his best-friend and his redhead spouse to return. "I'm not getting back up that rope."

"Doctor, we are partners! I am _not_ goeeng to leave you behind!" The blonde pointed at him with an expression of pure determination, as if nothing in the world would persuade him otherwise. However, once the wild shouts of Grucy grew louder from outside the room, that determination was quickly proved finite. "Alright, see ya!"

Jumping up to grasp the rope, the villain climbed his way out of the room with some impressive agility, the likes of which he'd been developing quite well since he'd been taking on more daring heists. Within only a few seconds, he was on the roof again, and not wanting to waste a single moment, he leaped aboard the ship and barreled over to the control stick.

Once he was in the cockpit, he very quickly kneeled down and went to turn the ignition on, but when he noticed that no key sat inside of the thin gap, his entire expression fell.

Nefario must still have it.

Sighing with a mix of exasperation and annoyance, the blonde turned and went to sprint his way back out of the vehicle, but upon coming face-to-face with his brother and sister-in-law, his breath quickly caught in his throat. Entirely unimpressed, Gru lifted his hand and held the keys in front of Dru, jingling them in his grasp to mockingly taunt him.

"Lookeeng for dese?"

Dru swallowed hard.

Knowing there was no escape now, he awkwardly grinned in response, glancing between them both fearfully. Judging on their crossed arms and totally aggravated expressions, he knew this probably wasn't going to go very well. Maybe, on this occasion, he took the whole villain thing a little too far...

It appeared Nefario was right all along. Maybe Christmas wasn't the best time for heists.

"Ummm..._haha_..." Dru chuckled nervously and massaged the back of his neck, inflating his smile in the hopes of chilling the couple out. "Looks like yoo got me. Yoo...yoo always do, huh." They continued to glare right through him, projecting a level of anger that he hadn't seen in some time. "Uh...what say we...we go home and get some much-needed sleep, _yes_?"

Refusing to respond for a short while, Gru balled his fists tight and pocketed the keys, not transporting his irate eyes from Dru in the slightest.

"Not dis time."

* * *

"Yoo're seriously lockeeng us up on_ Christmas_!?"

A look of absolute dejection on his face, Dru was right up against the bars inside the AVL's small prison unit, staring at his two AVL relatives in desperation.

"You're _damn_ right we are." Lucy responded, trying to keep her voice as level as possible. Valerie wasn't a huge fan of aggressive shouting in the headquarters, so suppressing the anger from her voice was probably in her best interest.

"Yoo'll be lucky eef head-office don't find out about dis." Gru added, speaking in the same quietened aggressive tone as his wife. "Eef dey do, yoo could be serveeng _actual_ prison time."

"Come on, guys, eet was _just_ a leetle bit of fun!" Dru argued, huffing sadly out of pure fear. "How come de minions aren't getteeng locked up!? _Dey_ had a part to play een dis as well!"

"Because we can't let de AVL find out about dem." The bald agent clarified. "Valerie won't hesitate to perform all kinds of messed-up experiments on dem all. Yoo, on de other hand...well, I really don't _care_ anymore."

Dru grabbed his head so hard out of stress, that it was a wonder he didn't puncture his skull.

"Ughhh, yoo...yoo just _CAN'T_ keep us here on Christmas Day! Dis ees de furst one we've had since I met yoo guys, I don't wanna miss eet!"

"Well, yoo should've thought of _dat_ before yoo went around heisteeng during de holidays." The two agents were now slowly making their way out of the room, increasing the fright on Dru's face with every step they took. Gru glanced down at his watch as they left, an action which proved to add upon his rage. "Eet's too late to order any gifts now. We'll be _very_ lucky eef we can get _anytheeng_ for de gurls."

"N-no, guys! Please, just...just _wait_!"

Suffice to say, they didn't.

Gru and Lucy exited the AVL's prison division without looking back, leaving both Dru and Nefario to stew inside the cells. Once they were gone, the blonde turned back with a huff and only just held back the urge to start sobbing. He couldn't believe it. The first Christmas with his actual family and he'd be spending it in a stupid high-tech cell.

Not making matters any better, Nefario glared up at his associate and watched him angrily from behind his goggles, taking a moment to start berating him.

"Y'know, Dru..." He began lowly, attracting his attention almost instantly. "When we first started working together, I actually found you to be quite an unexpectedly adequate villain partner. But, now that some time has passed, I've realized that..."

"It _really _has its disadvantages."

* * *

When the power went out, he genuinely thought he'd been handed a break. Without lights, why on earth would he stay? And yet, here he was, back inside the building that he hated so much. Obviously, he _really_ wasn't happy about it. How could anyone expect him to be when he was teased with the chance to escape and return home?

Now, he was right back where he started.

As those thoughts crossed his mind, the janitor frowned further as he reluctantly pulled the mop around the supermarket aisles, cleaning up the random spillages and stains that lined the floors. When the power went out, the manager sent him home for the night, but only a minute after it returned, he was called back in under the threat of being fired.

The night-shift really sucked.

Continuing to stroll around the store, absentmindedly releasing small huffs as he did so, the employee was a little surprised to find one of the automatic entrance doors in the process of closing. How did that happen? They were usually turned off at night, and all members of staff were instructed to use the back door in the employee room to leave. The manager had already returned home twenty-minutes ago...

So, who had used the door?

Placing the mop back into the bucket, the janitor pulled the utensil over to the malfunctioning doors and inspected it. Sure enough, when he got close enough to them, the sliding entrances opened up again. How did they get re-activated? Did he just forget to turn them off?

No, he _explicitly_ remembered deactivating them.

That's when he heard a series of soft noises arise from behind him. Completely startled, he spun around so fast that he almost lost his footing. He turned his head in all directions around him, but to his surprise, nothing was there. Did he just imagine that? No, he couldn't have. Those sounds were way too vivid.

Now, he was terrified.

Fortunately for him, in some ways, he didn't have much time to dwell on his fear, since a young brown-haired man suddenly appeared from behind him and struck him fiercely across the head, instantly knocking him unconscious. Once the janitor hit the floor, the intruder snickered and kicked over his bucket of suds, dirtying the cleaned floors all over again.

Vixon really didn't need to do that, but as he thought to himself earlier, he wasn't someone who followed rules.

Turning around and strolling through the superstore, the twenty-one-year-old villain made his way towards the entertainment aisle, which was full to the brim with a litter of different sickening children's toys. It was clear that they'd just been re-stocked, which only seemed to make this even better.

He grinned as he removed the beige-colored sack from his pocket, ready to be filled with stolen Christmas presents.

"I haven't had a Christmas in ten-years..." He muttered darkly under his breath, feeling his fists clench tighter.

"It's time this city gets a taste of how that feels."

* * *

_Hope everyone enjoyed! This story's getting a little tough to write, but I'm sticking with it. Hopefully, all chapters should be released before Christmas Day._

_Hopefully…_

_As always, if you choose to review, it's really appreciated :)_


	4. The Big Sister

_The posting streak continues! Hope everyone enjoys!_

_As always, all reviews on the previous chapter are very much appreciated :)_

* * *

**Chapter Four:**  
_**The Big Sister**_

"Don't forget to add my name!"

"Mine too! Mine too!"

Huddled around the blue stool in their bedroom, Edith and Agnes were jumping up and down excitedly behind a smiling Margo, who was currently writing inside a multi-colored card with a picture of Santa and baubles sat on the front. As a way of giving back to their parents, they secretly bought the card while the whole family were out shopping at the superstore a few weeks back, and ever since then, the siblings were absolutely ecstatic to give it to them.

Possibly, even a little _over_-ecstatic.

"I won't, I won't." The eldest replied, chuckling lightly as she scribbled her sisters' names inside of it. Once complete, she smiled and spun around on the stool, holding the card in front of Edith and Agnes as if it were a trophy. "There! All finished."

"Awesome." Edith snatched the card from the bespectacled girl, inspecting the contents up close with a giddy glare. "D'ya think they'll like it?"

Almost immediately, Margo leaned forward and snatched it back from the destructive girl, who would very likely find some way of defacing it with irreparable damage if not removed from her possession.

"Definitely, so let's not destroy it." Frowning, Edith rolled her eyes and glanced off to the side, clearly pretending not to care. "Now, I'll go and hide it somewhere safe in the closet."

The two siblings nodded in understanding as the eldest rose from the stool, but before she could take a single step, a loud, excited gasp interrupted her thoughts and quickly drew her back to a rapid halt.

"Wait!" Edith exclaimed, turning to Agnes at speed. "Doesn't the Christmas movie start soon?"

The youngest sibling exerted the exact same loud, excited gasp in response.

"Yayyyy!" She cheered, leaping up into the air happily. "Christmas movie!"

Every year when it got close to Christmas, the movie channel would air a different holiday-themed film each day, and whenever they were on, the sisters tried their hardest to watch every single one. There truly wasn't anything like watching a happy, jolly movie about something festive around Christmas. There just wasn't.

Giggling a little, both Edith and Agnes turned and sprinted out of the room, in hot pursuit of the living room. Margo shook her head with a chuckle and traversed over to the bedroom closet, where she jumped up onto the stool and hid the card beneath the closest box of possessions. After ensuring it was well-hidden, she jumped back down and followed in her siblings' footsteps.

However, after reaching the bottom of the spiral stairs, she was surprised to find the two of them stood completely still in the hallway, watching the front door with an odd amount of interest. When the eldest girl carried on down the steps and came to a stop right beside them, it didn't take her very long to figure out why.

"Sorry for asking you on such short notice..._again_." Lucy stated, as she donned her light blue coat, her husband standing beside her equipping his own usual attire. "It's just we really need to get going today, and we don't have anyone else who can look after them, so..."

"Oh, no, no, I understand." The unknown man responded, presenting a very friendly smile. "There's no need to apologize. You just get everything sorted."

"Thank yoo." Gru added as he turned to his three daughters, all of whom were clearly a little puzzled by the presence of some blonde-haired stranger. "We're goeeng out for a leetle while, gurls. We won't be too long."

"Be nice to the babysitter, okay." Lucy added, briefly motioning in the man's direction.

Edith and Agnes both nodded with a smile, and once their parents opened the door and left the house, the two girls carried on down the hallway and ran into the living room, not paying heed to the babysitter. However, on the other side of the coin, Margo stayed right in place and simply inspected the blonde man, a frown exploding from her face.

_They'd hired him again._

For the second time in two days, some stupid babysitter was forced to watch over them, even though they weren't required in the slightest. She found herself growing especially irritated by how young the guy seemed. He couldn't have been much older than twenty-two. Yet, even though he was some stranger that was a potential threat, he was now being handed responsibility of her and her two sisters.

Now, this _really_ wasn't fair.

The man watched as Edith and Agnes ran off into the neighboring room, and after they'd disappeared, he turned to address Margo. Based on the way she looked back at him, it was undeniably clear that she was unpleased. Unsure on what specifically was upsetting her, he awkwardly smiled and raised his hand in a tiny greeting.

"Hey."

Rolling her eyes, Margo scoffed a little. He even _sounded_ young. What was this guy going to do if a villain broke into the house? Absolutely nothing, other than get his butt whooped. Growing irritated from her own thoughts, she carried on forward and followed her sisters into the living room, continuing to send him a frown. Confused, the babysitter returned only a friendly smile as the girl left, and once she too had disappeared, he turned away and furrowed his brow a little.

"Alright, then."

* * *

As he sat with his feet up on the table, Vixon couldn't deny, he'd really missed this form of comfort.

Sitting on the hardened prison mattress, one of which mirrored that of concrete, was nothing compared to his burgundy premium deluxe-comfort leather chair, that he'd stolen from Buckingham Palace last year. He could still vividly remember that day. It felt like his crowning achievement, to have stolen from the queen.

For that to be his _crowning_ achievement, he considered, was probably quite ironic.

Now, as he valiantly gazed upon his mountain of stolen supermarket gifts, this one may very well have dethroned it as his best piece of villain work.

Well, either this, or that purple diamond he found in Tahiti, a scheme he worked on with Dru. They'd arrived to rid the massive, worshiped temple of all of its artifacts, but to their surprise, there really weren't many of them. Just that Totem of Promise, which they agreed was Dru's to take, and his own gleaming oddly-unnamed diamond, currently sat on his wall. It certainly was a beautiful gem, and he was still at wars with himself at whether or not he should sell it or keep it as a living room ornament.

Nah, this was _his_ prize. He wasn't giving it away to some snobby collector.

Glancing away from the diamond, Vixon caught a quick glance out the window, where he spotted an unknown hiker wandering the dirt-road outside, spinning a map around in his hands. By the way he kept shooting his gaze around his surroundings in confusion, it was clear he was lost. The villain debated whether or not to scare him from the property with a weapon or some form of explosive, or let him wander away himself.

Eventually, before he could decide, the hiker continued down the path and disappeared from view, seeming quite aimless in his adventure. It was odd, before he was locked up in prison, he'd seen quite a few lost people poking around outside. Looks like the world was perfectly reacquainting him with his home.

Anyway, back to the gem. It was certainly a great item, but the actual heist itself wasn't that difficult. Breaking into that temple was one of the easiest things he'd ever done. This superstore heist, however, was a difficult slog.

He had to give himself credit, to have stolen all the gifts from every supermarket and mega-store in the entire city in one night was the sign of a damn-good villain, especially since he got through it without being apprehended. Even though he was more than proud of himself for this successful heist, it was quite difficult to fit the onslaught of toys inside his mansion lair, and at this point, there was barely any space left to move in the living room.

Ah well, that didn't matter. _This_ was still his new crowning achievement.

Additionally, since he'd gotten it completed so quickly, he had some time to simply rest and appreciate his comfortable, hidden away, evil lair before he moved onto phase two of the plan. One that he'd put into action tomorrow night. As he sat there, overviewing the scheme, the disappointed face of every child in the whole town, once they wake up and realize that all their presents have been stolen by a new promising villain, excited him greatly.

It'll be a fantastic start in ruining the public's perception of the AVL.

He glanced to his side, to look at the small picture of his parents leaned messily against a nearby book. Thank god he remembered to grab it from the cell wall before he escaped. That image of his parents was all that remained of them. To forget that, would in essence, be forgetting his main form of revenge.

To destroy that imprudent organization.

As well as that, he hadn't forgotten about Gru and Lucy. Once he'd ruined Christmas, that would definitely be his next move. It would be a difficult task, that he knew without a doubt, but it would certainly be worth it. Getting revenge on those two meddlesome idiots will be one of the most satisfying feelings ever.

Grinning a little, the twenty-one-year-old pushed a toy soldier out of his way to grab the television remote from the coffee table. After pressing the red 'ON' button, the screen quickly lit up and displayed a feed of the news, which was currently detailing a report he found particularly interesting.

_"Thankfully, the agents on the scene managed to fix things at the plant. But that doesn't undo the problems that were caused while the power was off, including a number of prison breakouts and a wide series of largescale thefts on local stores."_

Vixon glanced around at all the stolen toys, unable to hold back his beaming grin. It had been a while since he'd last gotten news coverage. Needless to say, it felt good to be back.

_"As for who's to blame concerning the power cuts, the villain Dru has currently been labeled the prime suspect, but the AVL have yet to provide any confirmation. That's all from us, this morning. Channel 9 News will return later tonight with any developments."_

Vixon leaned forward in his seat, the smile on his expression continuing to glow.

"So, it was _Dru_ who shut the power off, huh?" He glanced at the floor, nodding to himself graciously, as if his blonde former villain partner was currently in the room.

"I knew I could count on that guy..."

* * *

Staring out of the living room window, Margo was struggling to contain her frustrated frown.

This was probably one of the most nonsensical decisions Gru and Lucy have ever made regarding the girls, and the more she thought about it, the more the frown on her face grew. She thought she'd gotten over this last night, but after seeing the babysitter with her own eyes, she was pushed right back into an angered state. It simply didn't make sense. This guy was young, innocent, weedy, and most importantly, an untrustworthy stranger.

He would be of no help to the girls if something went wrong, that she knew with certainty.

In fact, since meeting him in the hallway twenty minutes ago, they hadn't even seen him once. What could he be doing? For all she knew, he could be traipsing between the rooms, stealing every possession he could locate. Since Gru was an avid collector of trophies and artifacts when he was a villain, there were some genuinely prestigious items laying around this house, so it really wouldn't be a surprise.

Honestly, what was the point in him being here? Margo had been the only one keeping an eye on Edith and Agnes so far. She was practically the one babysitting. This guy was doing absolutely nothing!

It just didn't make _ANY_ sense and it was starting to drive her crazy!

Huffing deeply, she rested her head in her hands and examined the outside world, attempting to forget Gru and Lucy's lack of trust. Even though there were people strolling down the street in large, thick winter coats, the sun was still shining, and the wind wasn't strong in the slightest. It was, considering the time of year, quite a nice day.

That's when the idea popped in her head.

Her eyes widened slightly, and her head gradually rose from out of her hands. How hadn't she thought of this before? The three of them used to do this together all the time before they were adopted, with her being the one to watch over them and ensure that nothing went wrong. It was the perfect way to show her parents how trustworthy she was.

Smiling proudly, the bespectacled girl turned to inspect her younger siblings, the two of whom were laying comfortably on a huge mound of pillows on the floor. In the most perfect Christmas fashion, they were watching the TV right in front of the warm and toasty fireplace, the likes of which had tinsel and stockings hanging from it. It was a cozy sight to behold, and Margo couldn't help but grin happily.

Pity she was about to ruin it.

"Right," She began, clapping her hands as she traversed across the room. Grabbing the small pink and light blue coats that were resting on the couch, she came to a stop right in front of her sisters and placed the articles of clothing in front of them, immediately attracting their intrigued gazes. "Get your shoes, put these on, and let's go to the park."

Edith and Agnes glanced at each other, obviously puzzled.

"What?" The pink-hatted girl replied bluntly.

"Let's go to the park." Margo reiterated.

"Why?"

"Well, we _always_ used to go to the park at Christmas. Why don't we start the tradition again?"

"But we're watching the Christmas movie." Agnes sulked, pointing at the TV with a little pout. "We'll miss it if we go out."

"It's on again tonight." Margo pointed out with a shrug. "Plus, mom and dad will be home then, so we can _all_ watch it together."

She knew exactly the kind of things that could persuade Agnes, and as always, it appeared to have worked. Glancing back at the TV in deep thought, it was clear that she found that idea a lot more desirable than watching it _without_ her parents here. A family movie night was one of her favorite activities ever.

However, based on her unconvinced frown, it was clear that Edith was yet to be won over.

"Talking about mom and dad," She began, crossing her arms. "We're not allowed to go to the park without them. They'll go crazy if we go there on our own."

"Oh, come on, it isn't _that_ far." Margo replied, rolling her eyes. "It's only, like, five streets away."

Edith shook her head and glanced away for a moment, obviously still unsure.

"Well, what about that babysitter dude?" She asked, holding her hand out questioningly. "We'll need to ask him first."

"_Ugh_, Edith, are you serious?" She dropped her head in exasperation, looking at the girl incredulously. "That guy won't even realize that we're gone. Besides, since when did _you_ care about following _the rules_?"

Her prior frown disappearing, Edith unhinged her arms and dropped her head, as if that question had shut down every argument she could respond with. She was right. It wasn't her sort of thing to _not_ purposely break rules. After a short while of consideration, based on how the girl stood up and nodded her head, it was clear that she too was now convinced.

"Let me go get my boots."

Margo couldn't help but smile victoriously.

Once the three of them had donned their outside clothing, the eldest slowly cracked the living room door open and inspected the hallway, ensuring that the coast was clear. Sure enough, the pointless, unrequired babysitter was nowhere to be seen. That guy was literally useless. Did he realize that you had to actually _keep an eye_ on the kids when you babysit them?

Either way, she wasn't going to complain about it, since his lack of presence made it very easy for the three girls to quietly tip-toe down the downstairs hallway and leave through the front-door entirely unnoticed.

However, they were still insanely fortunate, since the moment that they left the house, the babysitter came wandering down the hallway and into the living room with a tray of sandwiches in his grasp.

"Girls, I made some snac-"

When he spotted the empty room, his heart skipped a beat and he almost dropped the tray of food to the floor. Spinning his gaze in all directions, he swiftly placed the sandwiches down on the nearest piece of furniture and thundered through the room, searching behind every single object in sight.

"Uhhh..._girls?_ Where are you?"

Well, they weren't in the living room, that was for sure.

Feeling his heart-rate accelerate, the man raced out of the room and into the hallway, continuing his frantic search through every single room, calling out at the top of his voice as he did so. Unfortunately, very, _very_ unfortunately, they were nowhere to be found.

"Umm..." The man spoke to himself, his voice wavering as he came to a stop in the girls' bedroom.

"This is a bit of a problem."

* * *

As she'd predicted, considering that her two sisters were safe and perfectly happy, Margo was looking after Edith and Agnes very well. They didn't need some young, inexperienced, innocent guy to babysit them. A young, innocent, but _very experienced_, glasses-wearing pre-teen was all they needed.

At the moment, Edith was climbing on the jungle gym, going through the bars in her usual slightly-too-dangerous style. While Agnes was being pushed on the swing by her eldest sister, something she hadn't done with her in a long time.

Gru or Lucy would always do it now, there wasn't any need for her help...

Margo's prior beaming smile slightly faltered at that thought, but as the cheers and giggles of the little girl caught in her ear again, it made an immediate return. Over her time of being the big sister, she'd learned exactly what swinging speed Agnes really enjoyed, one that also kept her perfectly safe if something went wrong.

If _that_ didn't prove how trustworthy she was, then what would?

"Yayyyy!" Agnes exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air as she flew forward again. "Woooo!" However, within in a second, her arms dropped to her side and her cheering quickly cut out. "Okay, I'm bored now. Can we do something else?"

Margo shook her head slightly, chuckling under her breath. The speed at which she could switch between emotions never ceased to baffle her.

"Yeah, sure." She shrugged, grabbing a hold of the swing and halting it in place. "Why don't you and Edith go on the see-sa-"

It was at that moment, as she spoke Edith's name out loud, that she decided to glance in her direction. To her distressing shock, the girl was no longer on the jungle gym.

In fact, to worsen matters, she was no longer inside the _entire park_...

For a moment, Margo's heart almost stopped completely dead. Where could she have gone too? She never saw her walk away. Did someone, possibly a villain, come and take her? No, there was no way that was the case. She would've seen it if somebody tried to get to her, she knew she would've. Right!?

Thankfully, when she spotted the tomboy strolling off down the street, she was proven right.

"You've gotta be _kidding_ me..." She muttered angrily, closing her eyes for a small while, entirely exasperated. Huffing, she leaned over and lifted Agnes out of the swing, before setting her back down on her feet. Slightly puzzled, the youngest looked up and spotted Edith wandering away, and right as she questioned Margo, the bespectacled girl grabbed her hand and started jogging in pursuit of her.

"Where's Edith going?"

"I dunno, Agnes," Margo replied, shaking her head as they exited the park, the eldest internally berating her tomboy sibling. "But we better catch up to her before she gets herself in trouble."

They started pacing their way down the pavement of the street, and to Margo's worry, Edith was no longer in sight. While the two of them were racing their way out of the park, she must've turned down one of the streets at the end of the road, and the eldest sibling was totally unsure as to which direction she'd chosen.

Her heart-rate was rapidly accelerating.

Slowly increasing speed, Margo and Agnes came to a stop at the end of the street and quickly turned their head both left and right, hoping to spot their sister down one of the turnings. Thankfully, they did, but somehow, she was managing to get further and further away from the two of them, while still at a leisurely pace. For example, how on earth did she get all the way over to the large superstore on the high-street that quickly?

Huffing, Margo turned and carried on chasing after her, watching as the tomboy walked through the sliding doors of the store. She really had to question, what was she even doing? Why would she walk all this way from her sisters without, at the very least, telling them where she was going?

Well, it _is_ Edith we're talking about, so what was the point in questioning it?

Either way, they had to get to her quick, before she broke something inside and the manager asked where their parents were. The last thing their mom and dad needed right before Christmas was a phone-call from a superstore informing them that their children had ran-off without permission and vandalized property.

Santa probably wouldn't be very pleased about that one.

The two girls bounded down the busy high-street, paced through the superstore parking lot, and entered the building at speed. The two of them investigated every nook and cranny of the interior, and when they couldn't lay eyes on their pink-hatted sibling, the worry continued to grow. What if one of the managers had already picked her up? It would be way too late for explanations then.

"_Ugh_, why is that girl so..." Margo took a breath and steadied herself, realizing that getting angry was not going to locate Edith. "Come on, we better find her."

The two of them searched down every aisle of the store, looking behind every object, obstruction, and shelf in sight. Still, unfortunately, the girl was nowhere to be seen, and Margo couldn't contain her fearful hyperventilating. What if she was already gone? What if someone had got to her before they did?

What if someone had taken her?

Before Margo could work herself up into an even more panicked state, the eldest felt relief instantly wash over her when she spotted Edith wandering out of the restrooms, strolling away from them as if she owned the place. Frowning, the two of them dashed over, and out of pure frustration, Margo harshly grabbed the girl by the arm and stopped her in place.

"_Hey_!" Edith exclaimed in shock, the fear quickly fading when she laid eyes on her two siblings. In response, she pushed Margo's hand away and rubbed her arm softly, frowning at her older sister in the process. "That hurt."

"What _on earth_ are you doing!?" Margo yelled angrily.

Edith shrugged before replying, as if she didn't understand what she'd done wrong.

"I needed to go." She stated nonchalantly, motioning towards the restrooms. Scoffing, Margo closed her eyes and held the bridge of her nose, feeling her frustration levels elevate.

"Ugh, Edith, you can't just run off like that! You gotta tell me, so we can all go together!"

Edith shrugged, frowning at her eldest sister with ire.

"Well, Margo," She spat bluntly. "I'm not the _only one_ who doesn't follow rules."

Margo furrowed her brow at the odd response, but before she had the chance to question it, to her almost cataclysmic shock, Gru and Lucy came wandering in through the automatic doors. For what had to be the fourth time in the past few minutes, Margo's heart skipped a beat. Grabbing their arms, she swiftly dragged Edith and Agnes behind the nearest stack of shelves, as to ensure that their parents wouldn't spot them.

"Ow!" Edith exclaimed, yanking her sister's arm away again. "Would you _stop_ doing that!?"

"Shhhh!" Margo put her finger to her lips and lowered her head, motioning for the other two girls to do the same. "If mom and dad see us, we're gonna get in big trouble."

Upon glancing across the building and spotting their parents, Edith and Agnes followed in the eldest's footsteps and put their heads down, ensuring that they were out of sight as Gru and Lucy made their way through the food aisle, looking down at a small notepad as they walked. They seemed heavily fatigued, but with Dru's ridiculous late-night escapades and today's forceful early wake-up, the reason definitely wasn't rocket science.

"All dis stuff better be here." Gru muttered lowly, shaking his head with annoyance. Originally, he thought that his anger towards Dru would subside a little once he had time to sleep on it.

He was wrong.

"It'll be fine. Like I said last night," Lucy started, giving her husband a light encouraging smile, in the hopes of raising his spirits. "There is no way on this planet that all of _this_ is going to be sold out at the same ti-"

However, once she glanced towards the toy section, her sentence abruptly died in her throat.

The shelves were completely barren. Not a single doll, action figure, collectible, plushie, or magical fairy unicorn in sight. Instead, all that sat there, was an oddly infuriating sign reading 'Just Re-Stocked!'. As the two parents came to an instant stop, there was no hiding the absolute unbridled shock that quickly enveloped their faces.

"Dere's..." Stunned, Gru blinked to check if his sight was working correctly. Evident by the empty aisle that remained when he opened them, it appeared his eyes were functioning perfectly fine. "Dere's _notheeng_!"

"Where the _hell_ is everything!?" Lucy yelled, holding her arms out like an angered coach on the sidelines of a sports match. "Is this like some..._super unfunny_ joke!?"

"Didn't you guys hear?"

Gru and Lucy spun around to the sudden voice at such a speed, that the store assistant stepped back a little in surprise. Needless to say, he'd never seen an adult couple look so insanely infuriated over the fact that a bunch of children's toys were sold out.

"Hear what?" Lucy questioned, her brow furrowing.

"U-uh, w-well," The assistant shook himself out of his fright and continued, re-establishing his confidence. "After the power cut last night, every superstore in the city was broken into. Must've been quite a childish robber, since they only stole all the toys."

Their anger transforming to immediate worry, Gru and Lucy quickly spun to face each other, but before either one of them could comment on anything regarding this extremely concerning situation, Gru's cellphone buzzed in his pocket and slightly interrupted their thoughts. When he fished the device out and spied Valerie's caller ID yet again, he had to fight the urge to crush the phone in his grasp.

The couple sighed in almost impressive synchronization.

"I can't believe this..." Lucy mumbled, grabbing a tight hold of her head. Gru angrily clamped his eyes shut, unable to vocally voice his anger as he accepted the call.

"Hello..." He answered, holding the bridge of his nose as he tried his hardest to calm his angered voice. "Uh-huh...yes...yes, we just found out...okay...yes, okay. We'll be dere soon."

Slamming his finger on the 'End Call' button, Gru huffed yet again and stormed his way back towards the sliding doors. After a moment, unbeknownst to what was going on, Lucy blinked in surprise and followed on.

"Please don't tell me it's another villain." She stated, looking at Gru with a huge frown as they walked, her hands out as if to plead for mercy. "We can't go on another mission, Gru! We ain't gonna have the time! It's gonna ruin Christmas! We'll have to tell Valerie that we can't make it! We'll have to tell her that we-"

"Lucy!" Gru interrupted her ramblings, halting her before she worked herself up into a bigger worry. "Eet ees not a villain. Eet ees only a stupeed gathereeng at de headquarters. I theenk de whole company ees gonna be given a mission."

Lucy sighed a little in relief.

"Okay, okay, that's not that bad." She replied, calming herself slightly. The whole company receiving a mission is always much easier, because in those cases, every single agent in the entire organization is helping fix things, rather than just two or three agents. It's usually a perfect opportunity to relax and take a break. "But, what about the gifts!? If every toy in the city has been stolen, then what are we gonna do?"

"Well..." Gru began, as the automatic doors slid open, granting the married couple an exit from the store. "Dat I do not know..."

Once their parents disappeared out of the building, the three sisters got back to their feet, and in a small panic, Margo motioned for the other two to follow her back down the aisle.

"Come on, let's just go home."

For a short moment, Edith stayed back and frowned harshly at her sister, but almost reluctantly, decided to stay quiet and simply follow on…

Leaving the store, Margo directed the three of them back through the parking and out onto the high-street, pacing to get back to the park as soon as possible. Taking a left, they carried on back down the road, not realizing at that moment that they should've, in fact, taken a right.

After around three minutes, unsurprisingly, they still hadn't got there, even though they knew they should've by now. The park really was not that far away from the store.

"Margo, where are we?" Agnes asked, analyzing the unfamiliar row of houses around here in befuddlement.

"Uh...well," Margo carried on walking fast as she spoke, looking in all directions in search of something that she knew of. Thankfully, a little further down the road, was a forest, the same one that stood near the swing set. "I'm not sure, but I know we're not too far from the park. If we cut through this forest, we'll be back there."

"Are you sure?" Edith questioned, uncertainty filling her voice.

"100%." Margo replied, as she turned to cut through the small field and into the woodland. "Come on, we'll be back at the park in no time."

"But what if you're wrong?" Edith came to a stop and gave her older sister an unexpectedly doubtful look, electing both Margo and Agnes to do the same. She usually trusted Margo's assertion without need for continuous questioning, so the fact that she did just that surprised the older girl significantly. "Let's just...go back to the store and take the other road back to the park, so we won't get lost."

"Lost?" Based on her momentary frown, Edith could tell that Margo was ever-so-slightly offended by that idea. "I won't let us get lost. Besides, mom and dad are probably on their way home and they'll get there before us if we turn around now." She glanced at Agnes at this point, as a method of questioning both of her sisters simultaneously. "You guys trust me, right?"

"_Yeah_! Sure we do!" Agnes beamed, smiling with that usual, super-jolly grin. "You're _super_...uh...trusty!"

Margo giggled a little before responding in the exact same fashion. "Well, come on then!"

With her the littlest sister obviously convinced, Margo and Agnes quickly carried on towards the woodland, but before Edith would uneasily do the same thing, she took a moment to glance at the floor with her brow furrowed.

"Alright, then."

The three girls entered the forest and kept on a straight line, waiting until they emerged on the other side, where the park was. To give her credit, Margo was totally right. The park did, in fact, have a forest right behind it.

It was a shame that this wasn't the same one...

* * *

_Hope this didn't disappoint! Thanks to all who choose to review!_


	5. Responsible Adults

_We keep going! Thanks to all reviewers, as usual._

* * *

**Chapter Five:**  
_**Responsible Adults**_

"_SILENCE!_"

When Valerie exploded through the automatic double doors and exclaimed that word at the top of her voice, the huge AVL hall was quickly brought to exactly what she'd requested. Her frown darting throughout the room viciously, she marched over to the center of the hall with thundering pace and came to an abrupt stop, pausing for a few seconds to affix darkened gazes on the agents.

When one of them came in Gru and Lucy's direction, the redhead had to block her husband's path with her arm before he lunged forward with rage.

"Agents, we have a problem on our hands!" She absentmindedly strolled around the podium as she spoke, her disproportionate nose pointed high into the air. "As you may have heard, that little electricity ordeal last night has led to some..._complications_. Every superstore across the city have had their toys stolen, in what has been dubbed the highest quantity of items stolen in one night _ever_. As well as that, we've had a series of prison breaks occur in every detention center in the city, 'cause without power, it's quite easy to just..._stroll out the front door_."

She came to a sudden halt at that moment, to pause for a few seconds and allow a more demonic expression to form.

"Am _I_ the problem here!?" She pointed at herself with both hands, glaring around at every agent she could lay eyes on. "Am _I_ the reason you morons aren't doing your jobs or do the lot of you simply not _fancy_ saving the town from villains!?"

Lowering their heads, every agent in the room avoided eye-contact with Valerie, seeming totally frightened by her series of yells. Well, all apart from Gru and Lucy, who looked close to bursting with ire. Right now, especially since gift purchasing seemed an impossibility at this point, being shouted at by some entitled director was the last thing they needed.

"At the end of the day, _I _am the one held responsible for this city! When head-office asks why one of the largest thefts of all-time has occurred while _I_ am in charge, what can I possibly say!? That _I_ am the problem!? That _I_ can't do my job properly!? That _I_ am not a _competent leader_!? It's OBVIOUS that isn't the case!"

At that moment, she closed her eyes with a huff and slightly calmed down, replacing her tone of voice with a much lower, darker variant.

"I will not stand for this kind of crime in _my_ city, while _I_ am in charge of protecting it. I don't believe that these thefts occurring while convicts are escaping in numbers is a simple _coincidence_. It's far too big of a pattern for my liking. So, I want every escaped convict to be located, apprehended, and brought _here_ for questioning. _Is that clear_!?"

The whole room quickly nodded in apprehensive understanding, and just as every agent turned to leave the hall, Valerie stamped her foot and quickly commanded them to halt.

"And _if_ this issue is not dealt with by tomorrow evening..." She began, pausing to continue her habit of viciously glancing around the room. "Then I will _not_ allow for any time off on Christmas Day." Every agent, this time including Gru and Lucy, gasped in response. "Those who think that they have control over their own lives and take the day off anyway, will be FIRED for unauthorized absence! Understood!?"

The room nodded again. However, this time, there was a lot more trepidation bundled within.

"Good." Valerie smiled mockingly as she spoke, lifting her head in terrific victory. "Now, dismissed!"

Still fearful, the agents didn't waste any time in speedily filing out of the room, almost crashing into each other as they raced to abide by Valerie's demands. On the other hand, the AVL's only married on-field partners stayed right in place, intently watching their co-workers leave in a hurry.

"Everyone seems keen to get this done." Lucy commented, continuing to examine the other agents before turning to her spouse. "Looks like we might actually get to chill out on this one."

"I wouldn't particularly call eet _chilleeng out_." Gru frowned a little as he turned away, stepping forward to leave the hall. "We'll need to go to some stores outta town and buy some-"

"_Hey_! You two!"

Valerie's sudden infuriated tone of voice almost shocked the couple out of their skin. When they spied her gargantuan irate expression, the couple swallowed fearfully in unison and glanced at each other, internally questioning the best method to revert their assertion of 'chilling out'. Fortunately, before Gru could begin his frantic assortment of excuses, the director continued.

"I want a report on last night's power outage on my desk by this evening." She stated commandingly, her noise, yet again, perched high into the air. Looking down on people, even when that physically made no sense from down on the podium, appeared to be her favorite activity. "Not _any _later."

Frowning again, Gru and Lucy returned barely noticeable nods and carried on towards the exit door, this time plagued by silence. This was getting extremely ridiculous at this point. The chance of having a good Christmas was fading further and further out of existence as the hours passed, and they'd need some form of holiday miracle to save it now.

It appeared that, ever since Gru had jinxed it with his brother's heist on the kitchen table yesterday evening, everything was finding a way to go wrong.

Surely, at this point, things couldn't get any worse...

* * *

"Margo, we've been walking for half-an-hour."

Edith was giving the back of her older sister's head a large frown, as Margo was swiftly charging forward through the forest in search of the park. Considering that the tomboy wasn't lying about the duration of their adventure in the unknown woodland, it appeared that the eldest sibling was having a bit of trouble finding it.

Additionally, she was also having a bit of trouble giving up, since when Edith complained about the unexpected amount of walking time, she ignored her and carried on at pace as if the girl didn't exist. In fact, she hadn't said a word for the past ten minutes, even when the other two whined or asked her something. Clearly, the only activity she seemed interested in was the pursuit of the park.

What was even more strange was Margo's uncharacteristic lack of direction. As she said before they even entered the forest, the park was supposed to be _straight_ through this forest, but after about ten minutes of walking in that direction, she gradually began turning left and right, as if she was beginning to doubt her own assertion. At this point, they could genuinely be anywhere inside the woodland, and if they were going in the wrong direction, how would they ever know?

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe, because she _didn't know_, she was afraid of being proved wrong.

Glancing at Agnes for a moment, who appeared a mix of worried and tired, Edith decided that she'd had enough of aimlessly walking. Jogging forward, she grabbed Margo's arm and stopped her in place.

"Margo, listen to me." The twelve-year-old turned to face the pink-hatted girl at speed, a frown plastered to her face. "The park isn't through here. If it was, we'd be there by now."

Sighing slightly, Margo turned her head around her surroundings, searching for anything that gave a clue on where the park was. Unfortunately, behind all of the trees within their vicinity, were just more and more trees. No houses, no streets, no fields. Just an endless sea of bark and leaves.

"Well...we've _gotta_ be close to home by now." She stated. "If we carry on walking through here, we'll be back at the mansion in no tim-"

"It doesn't take _thirty minutes_ to get home from the store!" She exclaimed, rolling her eyes. Why was she so intent on continuing down the wrong path? It was an entirely senseless decision, and because she didn't understand it, Margo's refusal to stop was really angering her. "Face it, Margo. We're _lost_."

By the way her aggressive expression grew at a harsh speed, that word evidently disgusted her.

"We're _not_ lost! I've never got _lost_ in my whole life." She stated bluntly, her tone of voice giving away her own doubt. The two siblings simply glared at each other for a short while, until, with a deepened sigh, Margo pushed herself past the nine-year-old and stormed off in the other direction. "Fine. Let's just retrace our steps and go back to that _stupid_ store…"

Edith threw her gaze into the sky, a small growl emitting from her voice box. "That's _literally_ what I've been saying this whole time."

After a few seconds of glaring upwards angrily, the middle-child lowered her head again and turned to face Agnes, who had shuffled over to get close to her sister. It was obvious that she was afraid, and in an odd change to her usual habits, she'd decided to stick beside Edith instead of the older, more _responsible_ sister.

"Why's Margo so mad?" She asked, unable to stop herself from checking her tree-filled surroundings, out of fear that a forest-dwelling monster was sneaking up to attack her.

"Dunno," Edith replied, shrugging as she turned to the girl in question. She was continuing to charge away at pace, as if she'd entirely forgotten the rule of _sticking beside_ her sisters. "But I wish she'd just chill out."

Agnes glanced down at her feet.

"D'ya think we're gonna find our way home?"

Edith returned her gaze to her little sister. It was two days until Christmas, and obviously, that was the worst time to get lost in some unknown forest. Maybe it was just an overly-worried side of her, but the genuine possibility of being stuck in some cold, derelict forest on Christmas Day sounded way too likely for comfort.

She wasn't as good as Margo with providing reassurance. However, right now, with the eldest's odd change in behavior, it seemed she had no choice but to try.

"I hope so."

* * *

After a silent, worried, sad, stressed out drive home, Gru and Lucy were now pulling into the driveway of their black mansion. They still had no gifts for girls, they had a lot of work left to do, and if all the other agents didn't track down the culprit behind the superstore thefts, they'd be spending Christmas Day in the AVL headquarters.

There seemingly wasn't much hope left regarding a good Christmas this year. As they'd concluded earlier, a holiday miracle was what they needed. But, since this wasn't some happy, jolly, fictional fairytale, the chances of that happening were practically zero.

Of course, they weren't going to give up. Gru and Lucy never submitted defeat while on the field, and they weren't going to submit defeat here. Even when the odds were entirely out of their favor, stopping and accepting a non-existent Christmas was not going to happen.

"Right, here's the plan," Lucy said determinedly, jumping out of the tank and onto the malnourished, winter grass. "I'll go inside and write-up that report, while you drive out of town and look for gifts for the girls."

"Am I stickeeng to de list?"

Lucy sighed, glancing at the floor for a moment. "I think it's too late for the list. Just go and find whatever you think they'll like." She seemed deeply saddened by her own words, internally preparing herself for Agnes's disappointed, fairy-unicorn deprived expression on Christmas Day. "Should I mention Dru in the report, or are we covering for him again?"

"Mention him. Weeth all de problems he's caused, dat idiot deserves a little bit of punishment." He leaped out of the tank with a frown on his face, his brother the source of his anger. If it wasn't for him and his ridiculous heist, they could've ordered those gifts yesterday, Valerie wouldn't have asked them to write up a report, and the AVL wouldn't need to track down a bunch of escaped convicts in search of a superstore robber.

He was _literally_ the focal point of everything that went wrong.

"Anyways, I'm gonna run een and grab some more money." Gru continued, traipsing across the grass. "Yoo know how expensive eet can get dis time of year."

Lucy only replied with a nod as the two wandered back up the steps and entered their decoration-filled home, which on this occasion, wasn't as fantastically festive as it was prior to leaving the house. Sure, everything still looked the same, but those colorful lights that hung from the ceiling and walls simply didn't give off that jolly feeling anymore.

Until Christmas was saved, those blinking LEDs would be a constant reminder of the massive problems they were facing.

"I'm gonna go check een on de gurls," Gru stated, diverting course to wander towards the living room. "See eef dey're okay."

"I'll come with." Lucy replied. "God, I hope you can find some good gifts. Those girls deserve a great Christmas."

"Yes, well…" Gru began, sighing as he coiled his fingers around the doorknob. "Even eef I cannot find anytheeng, at least we'll all have each oth-"

After opening the door and laying his eyes on the frantic babysitter, who was curled up in a freaked-out ball on the crocodile couch and hyperventilating into a pillow, Gru just had to interrupt himself. He continued to glare at the man for a further five seconds, before eventually, finding the mental capacity to speak.

"We're back."

The man jumped and threw the pillow away at such a speed that you would've thought he'd just seen the devil himself. Continuing to breathe heavily, the babysitter watched Gru and Lucy with an almost traumatic expression for an exceedingly long while, racking his brain in search of a calm and comforting method to break this news to them.

Unsurprisingly, he couldn't find one.

"Where are the girls?" Lucy eventually questioned. For a second time, this inquiry seemed to startle the babysitter a considerable amount, even though her voice was far from loud.

"Um…" He turned his head away in panic, ceasing eye-contact with the parents. "I…I…I don't…" At this point, he put his head down, holding it in his hands as if to contain some form of emotional breakdown. "_I don't know._"

The speed at which Gru and Lucy's expressions hardened was almost creepily impressive.

"What do yoo mean _yoo don't know_?" Gru took a step towards the terrified man, his voice dark and villainous.

The babysitter was nearing the point of tears.

"U-uh…I…I looked everywhere." He frantically replied, ignoring the question in favor of throwing out excuses. "I only went to the kitchen. I was just making them some sandwiches. Then, they just…d-disappeared. I looked all around the house. I looked around the backyard. I looked e-everywhere. It was like they…vanished into thin-"

Gru didn't let him finish.

He charged through the living room and fastened the babysitter with a demonic gaze, looming over him in a terrifying manner. In response, the man leaned back and merely cowered into the couch, a small whimper escaping him. It was very clear that Gru was once a villain. His angered state was absolutely horrifying to witness.

"Eef dis ees some unfunny joke…" He began, his voice only just above a whisper. "Den I advise yoo to cease de act immediately."

"I…I…" The babysitter shivered with fear, his voice box failing to operate for a few seconds. "_I'm sorry_."

"YOO'RE SORRY!?" Gru suddenly exclaimed, leaning forward to get closer to the man, his fists clenched. "YOO _WILL_ BE SORRY EEF YOO'VE LOST MY DAUGHTERS!" He grabbed the babysitter's collar and pulled him off the couch, frightening him to the point where he looked close to passing out from fear. "YOO ABSOLUTE PIECE OF-"

"Gru! This isn't helping!" Lucy stated angrily, as she pulled her husband off the man. She gave him a very desperate look, and after processing the expression, the true gravity of the situation made itself apparent to Gru. His little girls were missing. How could he be wasting time getting angry? He _had_ to find them right now. Lucy quickly directed her attention to the babysitter, who seemed close to developing PTSD from Gru's very aggressive outburst. "Are you sure they're not in the house?"

"I…I…I looked everywhere." He replied simply, not making eye-contact. "I checked every room nearly twenty times. They're not anywhere."

Gru and Lucy exchanged petrified looks.

"We gotta find them." Gru quickly nodded in response.

"I'll look een de lab. Yoo look around de house."

The two of them were about to start their desperate search of the mansion and its massive underground lair, but before they had the chance, the babysitter rose from the couch and handed them a guilt-ridden expression.

"Can I help in any way?" The two of them gave him a dark frown, and as he shrunk down under their gaze, his question didn't require an answer. "Should I leave?"

Gru slowly nodded, narrowing his eyes in the process. "Dat would be a wise decision."

* * *

Sat at her desk with her head down, Valerie was in the process of completing her monthly head-office report, this one being a lot more negative and disconcerting than preferred. For the majority of the year, she was sending them glowing reports of the AVL's significantly improved performance and average success in capturing villains, but on this occasion, multiple failures were souring the achievements.

While she was in the middle of reluctantly detailing last night's power affair, which wasn't very comprehensive considering the lack of Gru and Lucy's account of the situation, a knock on her door snatched her attention, making her lift her head at angered speed.

"Director?" The small voice of an agent croaked out, as he peeked his head through the door.

"What is it!?" She snapped, her scowl somehow growing deeper. "Can't you see that I'm busy!?"

The agent nervously shuffled into the room, glancing off to the side to avoid direct eye-contact. "Uhh...I think we have a prime suspect for last night's thefts."

Valerie's head immediately ascended, her frown fading slightly. "We do? Who is it?"

"Well...the prison in Crestfall forest reported one of their _villain_ inmates as missing. He's completely unaccounted for, and the AVL still don't know the location of his lair. An employee at one of the nearby superstores recognized him as the man who broke in to steal the toys, so as long as his memory is correct, it's a fairly safe bet to assume that he-"

"My _god_, stop with the waffling!" Valerie interrupted, standing from the desk and almost toppling her chair over. The agent jumped back a little and cowered, a small whimper escaping him in the process. "What's his name!?"

"Uhhhh..._Vixon_."

"Vixon?" Valerie slightly lowered her head in contemplation. "You mean, that statue guy?"

The agent promptly nodded. "That's him."

The AVL director smirked, staring up at the ceiling as she admired this fantastic development. To give the agents credit, she was never expecting the perpetrator to be given a name so quickly, but they'd proved her wrong. She couldn't particularly praise them vocally, for intimidation reasons, but it was certainly worth a momentary smile of gratitude.

"Find his lair." She instructed simply, lowering her head to address the employee again. "Once you have, tell the Gru's to get there and apprehend that idiot. They can sort things from there."

The agent quickly nodded in understanding and left the room, obviously wanting to escape Valerie's daunting office as quick as possible. Once he had, the victorious smirk on her face developed further, as she turned back to her desk and locked eyes with her now inaccurate report. It looked like there were amendments to be made. Some listed failures in there could soon be omitted.

"How'd ya like me now!?" She exclaimed mockingly, as if the report could actually hear her.

* * *

Hopeless. That's how Gru and Lucy currently felt.

They'd searched every nook and cranny of both the house and the lab, but the girls were absolutely nowhere to be found. The minions had even conducted a birds-eye view search of the entire street, but still, not a sign. The terrible onslaught of new, more detrimental problems they were facing was almost disgustingly comical.

Something must've happened. The girls would never run off like that.

So, even though they certainly weren't happy about it, the couple concluded that they probably needed some extra bodies to help with searching the neighborhood. Yes, the minions were trying their best, but right now, they required some genuine, human logic to support them in conducting a more thorough search. The minions were just wandering around the place, hoping to somehow stumble upon them.

It was of help, don't get them wrong, but with two members of the family locked up in the AVL prison, one of whom was a genius scientist who mastered in technological expertise, they really needed some additional assistance. So, momentarily putting yesterday's events behind, there was only one thing they needed to do.

Set those utter moronic idiots free.

They considered calling the cops and instigating a city-wide search for the girls, but from experience, Gru and Lucy knew how useless the police-force in this area were. Since the AVL were the primary crime-solvers, they weren't very helpful in actually solving any crimes anymore. They always just relied on the AVL to fix the problem.

If Gru and Lucy, the most prolific AVL agents in the organization, called the police for help, they'd probably laugh them off the phone.

So now, they were barreling the way through the AVL headquarters, trying to reach the prison as speedily as possible. When they break the news, Dru and Nefario will probably be quite pleased about being released for Christmas. However, when some further uninvited news about the disappearance of the three children in the family arrives, Gru and Lucy were certain their happiness wouldn't last long.

Eventually, they made it to the prison, and in an effort to start the search as soon as possible, they practically barged the entrance door off of its sturdy hinges. When the two imprisoned villains watched the married couple charge their way towards their designated cell, Dru rolled his eyes and scoffed aggressively.

"Well, look who's here." He greeted cynically, giving his brother and sister-in-law a harshened frown through the bars. "My _favorite_ nemesis's. Come to mock us have yoo?"

"Dru! Nefario!" Gru exclaimed, him and his wife coming to a stark halt in front of the cell. "Yoo gotta help u-"

"Well, I deedn't even _want_ to spend Christmas weeth yoo weemps anyway!" Dru interrupted, completely ignoring Gru and Lucy's atypical terrified states. "Me and de doctor are haveeng a _thrilleeng_ time here on our own, isn't dat right, Nefario?"

Gru and Lucy quickly glanced in Dr. Nefario's direction, who was slumped so far back in his seat, that he was practically laying down.

"My life was a mistake." He grumbled.

"See! We're makeeng jokes, haveeng a laugh, crackeeng all de wise! We don't need _yoo_!"

"Look, Dru, just _listen_ to us-"

Lucy wasn't granted her request.

"Why would I want to spend Christmas weeth a family who would _lock up_ their own flesh and blood on de very furst ever holiday season dey were spendeeng together!? Why would _anyone_ want to spend Christmas weeth people like _dat_!?"

"Dru, sto-"

"So, I'm gonna stay right here and spend Christmas _weethout_ nasty bald brothers, and I'm gonna have a whale of a time doeeng eet! No matter how much yoo try and persuade me otherwise, I will not be leaveeng dis-"

"DRUUU!"

As he practically screamed at the top of his lungs, Gru slammed the bars so loud with both his hands, that his brother screeched in surprise, lost his footing, and fell to the floor with a painful thump. In shock, Dru glared up at the two agents with a frown, an uncomfortable silence falling between them all for a short while.

Eventually, Lucy broke that silence.

"The girls are missing!"

Dru's face completely dropped.

* * *

"I can't believe dis! I can't believe dis! I can't _BELIEVE_ dis!"

The four of them had rushed home from the AVL prison at such a speed, that they lost count with the number of vehicular crashes they'd caused on the way back. The world behind the tank's window was way too blurred to conclude for definite. But, _they'd_ made it back home safely, and at this point, that was their most primary concern.

At the moment, Dru was sat beside Nefario in the underground lab, as the scientist associate quickly jabbed at the large buttons on the supercomputer. Gru and Lucy were stood behind the two, watching the massive, confusingly detailed screen intently.

"What could've happened!? How could dey have disappeared!?" Dru continued his endless concerned rambles, as he grasped his head roughly in his hands. "I just…I just…I can't _BELIEVE_ dis ees happeneeng!"

Even though he was throwing out a large number of questions, Gru and Lucy were not going to provide answers. Not only because they didn't even _have_ the answers, but also because there was only one question they wanted to be clarified first. _Where were the girls?_

Hopefully, once Dr. Nefario's supercomputer searched for and located Margo's phone, they'd have the exact answers they needed above all else.

Eventually, the scientist opened the program and initiated its long and painful search through the city's SIM database, in hunt of Margo's signal source. The silence in the room as the machine whirred was horribly terrifying. Without any form of distraction, the only thoughts that ran through the occupants' head was the constant reminder that the girls were missing.

But, when the machine eventually halted the search, those thoughts were replaced with much more nightmarish ones.

_ERROR: COULD NOT LOCATE SIGNAL SOURCE._

"Oh, shoot." Nefario commented, his shoulders slumping in distress.

"Shoot? What shoot? Why are yoo shooteeng? What ees de purpose of de shoot!?"

Dru was, ironically, shooting out so many variants of the same question, that Nefario was immediately regretting the use of that frustrated phrase. It appeared that, though he may have escaped that prison cell, he hadn't escaped his _cellmate_ just yet.

"It can't locate the signal." Nefario stated, spinning in his chair to face Gru and Lucy, who returned extremely petrified glares. The scientist opened his mouth to continue the explanation, but for a moment, struggled to do so, out of fear of furthering that dread. "Or in other words…it can't locate _Margo_."

The AVL couple gave him a blank stare, before eventually sharing very short concerned glances with each other.

"Are yoo sayeeng dat-"

"Look, I don't know what could've happened," Nefario interrupted, rising from his seat as he swapped his line of sight between Gru and his redhead wife. "But if the machine can't locate Margo's phone, then…something must be preventing it from establishing contact."

Lucy's voice cracked as she barely managed a response. "O-oh, god…"

"What about Edith's phone!?" Dru exclaimed, jumping up from the seat and frantically directing Nefario's attention back to the supercomputer. "Have eet search for Edith's phone!"

"Edith's phone's upstairs. Een de liveeng room." Gru dropped his head, staring at the floor as he rapidly blinked. "She…she never leaves de house weethout eet."

God, how much they wished they'd permitted Agnes to own a phone. At the time, they thought she was a bit too young, but now, it could've really helped to have a third device to fall back on. However, if something had happened, then...

Another phone probably wouldn't have made a difference.

Another long, but even more painful, silence consumed the entire room. There weren't many solutions left. If they couldn't locate the girls via phone signal, then actually finding them would prove to be a lot more difficult.

Huffing harshly, Gru shook his head and turned to his brother, trying to kill this wasted time with something actually productive.

"Dru, go help de minions search around de neighborhood." He instructed. "Help dem een any way yoo can. Ring us eef yoo find anytheeng."

Dru responded with a fast nod before sprinting out of the room to abide by the instruction. Once he'd left, Gru turned to his wife and motioned for her to follow him, as he carried on behind his brother. It took her a moment to bypass the hypnotic trance she was consumed by before she realized she was being addressed.

"What else can we do, Gru?" Lucy asked, her voice small and scared. "How are we gonna find them?"

Gru closed his eyes and paused before offering a response.

"I dunno," He began. "But sometheeng isn't right. De gurls wouldn't just get up and leave for no reason."

Lucy furrowed a brow.

"What are you saying?"

"Well, I'm sayeeng dat…" Gru slammed his palm onto the lift elevator, internally pleading for it to speed up and open.

"Dat escaped convict could've stolen more dan some superstore toys."

* * *

After a quick and angry check of her digital watch, Edith could now officially confirm that her and her sisters had been walking for an hour-and-a-half.

Margo simply wouldn't stop. She'd been endlessly traipsing in different directions the entire time, no intention of taking a break or giving in. Frustrated with her sister's persistence, the tomboy had complained every single time she examined her watch, but on this occasion, she decided against it. What was the point when all of her exclamations were falling on deaf ears?

Thankfully, her little sister decided to sub in for her.

"My legs hurt." She stated simply, her prior pace falling to an almost inanimate slog. Margo ignored her, but as usual, Agnes wasn't going to give up without a response, and continuously persisted. "I'm tired. I don't wanna walk anymore. When are we gonna get home?"

Along with a sigh, the eldest finally decided to respond to her. "Look, we're…we're almost home."

"You keep saying that." Agnes replied, looking down at the floor, which with the constant walking, was the source of all the pain in her legs and feet. For that reason, she was beginning to resent it. "You've been saying that for an hour. We're never getting home, are we?"

Letting out another huff, Margo came to a stop and spun around at speed to pointedly address the panicked littlest. "We will get back home, Agnes, I promise. You still trust me, right?"

Agnes nodded slightly, a lot less vigorous than her usual nods. "Yeah. B-but…I'm scared. What if…" She glanced around at many different trees, the worry on her face continuing to deepen. "What if a forest monster grabs us and eats us?"

Margo chuckled. "That won't happen. Forest monsters don't exist."

_GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!_

Betraying her prior assertion, both her and Agnes almost jumped out of their skin when an odd growling sound arose nearby. The twelve-year-old quickly grabbed a hold of her sister and examined the surrounding area intently, as Agnes closed her eyes and shivered fearfully in her grasp.

"What was that?" The youngest worriedly questioned.

"My stomach."

Edith watched as her two sisters spun around to face her in absolute panic, and in response, she could only roll her eyes and offer them an irritated scowl. After a second, they calmed down and released their hold on each other, their breaths still running at wild pace. Despite Margo's relentless assertion of confidence, she certainly seemed quite on-edge…

"I'm hungry." The tomboy continued as-matter-of-factly. Agnes took a moment to calm down before responding.

"Me too." She added, stepping away from Margo, who watched her with a small pout. What confused her further was how frightened the little girl appeared. She was usually quite clingy when scared. "What if we never get out of this forest? Are we gonna starve?"

"No, Agnes." Margo replied, huffing a little as she rolled her eyes and turned away to continue the seemingly never-ending forest trip. "We're almost home, so can the two of you just stop complaini-"

"We're _NOT_ almost home, Margo!" Edith exclaimed, a yell of which startled Margo into coming to a halt again. The twelve-year-old slowly turned back around to address the pink-hatted girl, who was frowning at her very hard. To give Edith credit, she could pull one heck of a frown when angered. "We've been walking for so long, that we're probably _miles_ from home by now! All because _YOU_ can't admit that we're lost!"

Margo simply watched her sister with an almost helpless look, as if every cell of her brain was attempting to conceive a response. But, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. She could argue that they weren't lost, and with further persistence in retracing their steps, would find their way home, but even she knew how stupid that sounded at this point.

It was clear that they'd entered the wrong forest. She didn't know where she was or what direction home was in, so right now, she was practically bereft of ideas. She'd never once got lost in her life, and though it hurt her somewhat to fall to this conclusion, it seemed impossible to deny any longer.

They were lost.

"Fine…" Margo frowned and put her head down, her voice low as if a part of her was trying to restrain the words. "You're right. We're lost," She glanced back up at her sisters, this time a more reassuring look gracing her expression. "But I can find the way back home. Trust me, the moment we see something we recognize, we'll be able to get back."

Edith scoffed.

"Margo, I'm really sick of walking." She stated brusquely, rubbing her head for a moment in frustration. "I'm cold, I'm hungry, my feet really hurt. Can you _please_ just…ring mom and dad and tell them to come get us."

Ring mom and dad. How hadn't Margo thought of that? It was a good idea. Even though they'd be angry at them all for leaving the house and traipsing right across the city without permission, it was a much better alternative than staying here and possibly never finding their way back home.

But, at the same time, it felt like submitting defeat. Margo could look after her sisters. She'd never put them in danger before, and even when they found a way to do it themselves, she'd always kept them safe from significant harm. They didn't need 'responsible adults' to take care of them. They didn't need Gru and Lucy.

She could protect them all on her own.

"Edith, I'm not doing that." Her tomboy sister instantly looked dumbfounded by Margo's unexpected response. "Imagine how much trouble we'll be in if we tell mom and dad that we sneaked out of the house. Santa's not gonna bring us anything! So, if you follow me, I can get us home without anyone knowing we were go-"

"Edith, stop her!" When Agnes ran over to the nine-year-old and exclaimed that in a small panic, Margo's entire expression fell. She quickly latched onto Edith's side and looked up at the girl, who instead of pushing her off as she usually did, put an arm around her shoulder and gave the eldest a hysterical look.

The two of them looked terrified. Margo felt her heart sink.

"_Please_, Margo." Edith was clearly trying to keep her voice level and unfazed, but anyone with functioning ears could hear the desperation that was bundled within. "Just ring mom and dad. We wanna go home."

This time, Margo was practically defeated. She couldn't remember the last time Edith sounded so anxious, and that voice chipped away at her only remaining argument. She wasn't protecting them right. By walking further and remaining firmly in denial, she was simply pushing her beloved siblings into danger. It hurt her to admit it, but maybe, just maybe, someone needed to save them…

From _her_.

The girl closed her eyes sadly and reached into her pocket, frantically restraining the tears that were bubbling behind her eyelids. After fishing the device out and glancing up at her sisters, who were clearly relieved, she shook her head and, reluctantly, pushed the on-switch.

…

Nothing happened.

Confusion washing over her, she pushed it again. Then again. Then again. Then _again_. The phone's screen wasn't turning on. After a few seconds of simply staring at the device in total confusion, she distressingly concluded the problem.

Even though she'd placed the device right next to the power socket as a reminder, she'd completely forgot to put it on charge before she fell asleep last night. While consuming herself in frustration from Gru and Lucy's lack of trust, it entirely slipped her mind. Upon realizing that, Margo found the irony in the situation to be way too painful for comfort.

While berating her parents for their distrust, she ended up proving exactly how distrustful she was…

By forgetting the one thing that could've saved them right now.

Looking up at her sisters, who returned mixed glares of befuddlement and worry, she released a heavy breath and addressed them in a guilt-ridden fashion.

"It's not turning on."

A muscle in Edith's face quickly twitched. "What do you mean it's not turning on?"

"I…I must've forgotten to charge it last night."

"It's out of charge!?" Edith yelled, a massive frown emerging. "Why would you bring it then!?"

"I-I dunno, I didn't realize!"

"You didn't realize!? How!? Didn't you try turning it on before we left!?"

"No! Anyway, where's your phone!?"

"Didn't bring it!"

"Why!?"

"Oh, I dunno, cuz someone rushed us out the house and I couldn't grab it!"

"Well, anyway, it doesn't matter! We don't need mom and dad! Just trust me and I'll get us home!"

"Trusting you was what got us here in the first place! _Why_ would we wanna do that again!?"

At that point, Margo snapped.

"Well, _FIND YOUR OWN WAY BACK THEN_!"

She yelled so loud and angrily, that Edith jumped and quickly closed her mouth. She only offered her older sister a startled, owlish glare in response, and without another word, Margo spun away and stormed off further into the forest. Eventually, she rounded past a few trees and disappeared out of sight, leaving the tomboy to glare at nothing in stunned silence.

After a little while, Edith snapped out of her shock and processed her surroundings again, where she finally realized that her side was starting to hurt. Slowly turning her head, she found Agnes clutching even harder into her torso, closing her eyes as if to cut off the real world.

In fact, Edith was pretty sure that this was the tightest hug she'd ever received.

Eventually, the six-year-old reopened her eyes and observed her middle-sister in despair, concern bulging from within her pupils. They were lost in an unknown forest, there was a rift between the sisters, and now, Margo had stormed off and left two of the youngest in the family to fend for themselves. Clearly, the reasoning behind that concern was very obvious.

Finally, Edith budged slightly and returned the embrace, inspecting her surroundings in the process to watch for any dangers. If Margo wasn't going to look after her younger sisters, then Edith would have to step in. She'd never done it before, but she knew it couldn't have been difficult. She could look after Agnes just fine, right? They didn't need Margo.

No. They didn't need Margo.

They needed _responsible adults_.

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed! Things are clearly getting a bit more hectic in the story, now. It's gonna be tough to try and get the remaining chapters out before Christmas Day, but I'm gonna give it my best shot!_

_All reviews are appreciated :)_


	6. A Light In The Dark

_Thanks to the guest who reviewed the last chapter. Hope you have a great Christmas as well!_

* * *

**Chapter Six:**  
_**A Light In The Dark**_

The girls, as well as their surroundings, were getting colder and gloomier as time went on.

Edith and Agnes were wandering forward through the seemingly ocean-sized woodland on their own, without their big sister, who'd decided to storm off in a huff ten minutes ago. Though they'd stayed completely still for a little while before eventually going off to try and find her, it felt like they'd been alone for an eternity.

Edith had been trying her best to substitute in for Margo in terms of consoling Agnes, she really had, but it was obvious that the eldest was a lot better at it than she was. The nine-year-old had been holding her hand as reassuringly as possible as they moved forward, but it was clear that Agnes was still petrified.

While Edith continued to mirror those feelings, she doubted she was ever going to help her little sister overcome them.

"It's getting real dark." Agnes commented in a small voice, as she glanced up at the sky, which was bordering a dark blue color.

Edith didn't shift her gaze in the slightest. "Yep."

"D'ya think we're gonna find our way home?"

"Dunno."

Unable to produce a more reassuring response from Edith, Agnes looked up into her older sister's irritated expression with a saddened pout. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not mad at _you_, Agnes." Edith replied, finally offering the girl a short period of eye-contact. The anger in her face was still plainly visible, however. "I'm mad at _Margo_. She's walked us into some stupid forest, got us lost, and then ditches us. Some _big sister_ she turned out to be."

Agnes turned away from her, glancing off into the trees with a terrified look. "She didn't _mean_ to get us lost."

Edith huffed and glanced at the floor.

"Sure felt like she did." Her frown continued to grow as she conversed, and along with it, so did the aggression in her stride. "She just kept walking and walking and walking and walking. Who knows how far away we are from home, now?"

Agnes decided not to respond to that. It was clear that things weren't great at the moment, so it was doubtful she would be cheered up anytime soon. The two younger sisters carried on walking forward through the oddly confusing woodland, hoping sincerely to stumble upon a sign of civilization, a lot like Margo had been doing. Eventually, after a painful minute-long silence, Agnes perked up.

"I hope Margo's okay." Edith glanced at her briefly, before replying in her own very small voice.

"Me too."

Thankfully for them, at that moment, they stumbled upon the twelve-year-old, who was sat nearby atop a dirtied log with her head in her hands. The second that she laid her eyes on her older sister, Agnes let go of Edith's hand and barreled over to her at pace, relief clearly visible in her expression.

"Margo!" The six-year-old instantly clung on to her side and hugged her for comfort, but to her surprise, Margo barely budged. Rather, she continued to glue her head firmly in her palms, stewing in an oddly suppressed silence.

After a second, Edith marched her way over to the two of them, and in the polar opposite way to her little sister, immediately began berating the girl with a harshened tone of voice.

"Why would you just run off like that, Margo!? We gotta at least stick together if we wanna get out of here! What's _wrong_ with-"

When Margo finally decided to lift her head, Edith was swiftly stunned into silence. The frown she possessed was erased at speed when she laid eyes on her older sister's tear-stained face. It had been some time since Edith had seen her older sister cry. She usually kept up such a strong front, even when they were at the orphanage, that she'd forgotten that she even could.

Needless to say, it shocked her into a very worried silence.

"I'm…I'm so sorry." Margo choked out, shaking her head as she quietly spoke. "I don't know why I…I ran off, I just…I couldn't stand to see you so afraid." She paused for a moment as another tear ran down her cheek, sniffling heavily as the shame continued to torture her. "I love you two so much and…it's all my fault and…we should be at home and…and…" She dropped her head and pulled Agnes closer to her, shutting her eyes to fight off the tears. "I'm sorry I'm such a bad sister."

"You're _NOT_ a bad sister!"

Margo jumped a little when Agnes quickly pulled away and glared at her with an almost angry look, as if the twelve-year-old's final sentence was an insult.

"You're the BEST sister! You just made a mistake, that's all!"

Unconvinced, Margo sighed and turned away a little. "Agnes, I-"

"You always look after us and play with us and make sure we're super happy!" It was clear the little girl was dead-set on persuading her, since Agnes very rarely interrupted someone with such resolve. It was rare that Agnes interrupted anyone _at all_. "Just cuz you took us in the wrong forest and got lost, doesn't make you a bad sister! We still love you!"

Silent and shocked, Margo was watching the little girl in absolute awe. At times, she seemed to possess this odd sense of maturity that spanned far past her years. Like when she helped Gru get over his sadness on the doorstep and aided him in gathering the courage to ask Lucy out, or when she accepted the fact that she found a goat instead of a unicorn in the magical forest and got over it in impressive time.

It was certainly a unique trait for a six-year-old...

Eventually, slight movement to her right snatched her attention from her thoughts, and she glanced over to find Edith sat beside her on the log. She was glaring at the floor with an almost guilty look for a second or two, until she seemingly broke out of it, and turned to her with a faint smile.

"She's right." Her gaze quickly drifted off again, discomfort being the reason. "We'll always love you."

It was _extremely_ rare for Edith to be that open…

This time for a different reason, tears rapidly surfaced in her eyes again, and the twelve-year-old softly pulled her two siblings in for a grateful hug. Returning the embrace, the three girls simply sat there for a small while, appreciating this moment.

It was odd, but even though they were a long way from home inside a cold, dense forest with nothing but trees and an eerie wind to accompany them, everything felt just fine when they were sat here hugging each other. Like, there was a confidence in the air that was obviously missing beforehand.

It was clear that arguing and blaming each other wasn't going to get them home, but sticking together just might.

After what must've been a whole minute of sitting and hugging, Margo finally decided to open her eyes again, and upon doing so, the first thing she realized was how dark it was getting. The sky was edging closer and closer to the black shade of night, and without the sky brightening the surroundings, the trip home was going to be a lot harder and infinitely more terrifying.

Or, that's what she thought, until she noticed a small flickering light beaming in the distance.

"Wait…" She muttered, jumping up from the log and startling her sisters substantially. She continued to glare at the light source for a small while, ensuring that she wasn't imagining it, before spinning back around to her sisters with a large grin. "There's a light over there! I think it's someone's house!"

"Really!?" Agnes squeaked, smiling along with her.

"Finally!" Edith added, leaping to her feet in the same fashion that her sister did.

"Come on!" Margo exclaimed in joy, ushering the two younger girls forward as she began her paced charge towards the unidentified light in between the trees. "Let's get outta this stupid forest!"

* * *

Continuing to relax and admire his toy-filled room, Vixon was contentedly watching TV with a large smile on his face, ensuring to keep himself as chilled as possible before tomorrow's big events. It was going to be a tiring night, what with breaking into as many homes as possible and stealing the gifts under the tree, and he'd 100% need plenty of energy to increase the chance of success.

However, he considered, watching television was already getting a little boring. He'd never really enjoyed wasting time in front of it before, since the knowledge that he could be doing something a lot more worthwhile was always present in his head. But today, since he'd only just left prison, he decided he'd give it a go.

Unfortunately, it was still just as tedious as always.

Huffing, he glanced around the room in search of other activities to do, when he noticed his mobile phone placed invitingly on the coffee table. Obviously, because of his fantastic heist on the power station, Dru was the reason he was currently allowed to sit in his home, rather than that dreadful prison. He had a lot to thank him for.

Maybe he'd be interested in joining the gift-stealing scheme. To give him credit, he was a fantastic villain. The Statue of Light heist wouldn't have got anywhere near that far if he wasn't involved. Plus, a second pair of hands would certainly increase the number of houses they could break into.

He knew the AVL considered him the prime suspect of the power heist, but was he currently apprehended? Dru always had an odd way of avoiding prison time…

Grinning, he reached over and grabbed the device, before flicking through the contacts in search of Dru's number. However, just as he was about to give the blonde a call, a breaking news report on the TV entirely sucked up his attention, and he traversed his gaze to the screen.

"_Breaking news! After last night's power debacle, a number of prison breakouts have occurred right across the city, and the AVL believe that one of the escaped convicts is a very dangerous villain who needs immediate recapture."_

Vixon furrowed his brow. Was this report referring to him? Were the AVL already onto him? He knew he wasn't the only big-name villain locked up in prison when the power was cut, so surely, quite a few of them must've escaped. He wasn't the only one, right?

"_He was the main perpetrator behind one of the year's most dangerous heists, and the AVL have stressed how important it is to stay away from him. He currently goes by the alias-"_

**DING DONG!**

When that abrupt loud sound rang through the entire mansion, Vixon leaped up from the couch at such a speed, that he found himself slightly dazed for a moment and had to steady his posture before he collapsed. Was that the _doorbell_? He couldn't even remember. He hadn't had a visitor in so long that he'd forgotten what it sounded like. Either way, since it was so haunting in appearance, no civilians ever dared approach the front door, so this simply couldn't be good news.

Desperately jogging out into the hallway, Vixon grabbed a hold of the mace tied to the wall and slowly approached the door, his eyes narrowed to prepare himself with whatever threat lay behind it. After eventually traipsing his way to the house's entrance, he clutched the handle tight and gradually eased the door open, peeking out to spy who was behind it.

Needless to say, when he was met with three fatigued-looking little girls, his apprehensive demeanor instantly faded.

"Uh…_hi_." Margo greeted uneasily. When she noticed that the young man was obviously holding something behind him, she stepped back to get protectively closer to her siblings. "Sorry to bother you, but…we're kinda lost and we were wondering if we could use your phone to call our parents."

Before offering a response, Vixon frowned and inspected the three of them a little closer. The eldest and the youngest one appeared a little nervous, but the pink girl seemed entirely unfazed, even reciprocating his frown with her own, slightly-adorable variant. Never before had he seen children get anywhere near his house, not to mention knocking on the front door. Most of them either screamed or urinated out of fear once they caught even a slight glance.

It was kind of like these girls were used to haunted-looking mansions…

Vixon's instinctive decision was to berate them and slam the door in their faces, but since he really needed to get in contact with Dru if he wanted to get him on-board tomorrow's scheme, maybe it was best to just let them do what they had to do so they could leave as soon as possible.

Plus, the middle-child looked prone to throwing a rock through his window if he denied them, and he certainly didn't have the time to deal with that right now.

"Uh…yeah, yeah, whatever." He opened the door further and dropped the mace behind him, producing a crash that startled the girls substantially. "Landline's in the kitchen. Make it quick."

Grabbing a hold of Agnes's hand, Margo narrowed his eyes at the man suspiciously and entered the house, continuing to keep a very close eye on his movements and mannerisms. It was obvious he had a problem with Edith, since he was affixing the girl with an almost threatening frown the whole time. Not like her to get scared, the tomboy was simply throwing it right back at him, as if they'd been vicious enemies their entire lives. What guy gave a nine-year-old that kind of hostile look?

Whatever the case, Margo couldn't shake the weird feeling of déjà vu…

* * *

"Gurls! _Gurls!_"

"Goolabee! _Goolabee!_"

Dru and Dave, as well as a truckload of different minions, were searching in and around the nearby park, obviously looking for the three missing girls. Unfortunately, up to this point, they weren't having much luck. They had as many minions as physically possible searching the city, but still, there was no sign of them.

"Ugh, just…_where_ could dey be?" Dru questioned out loud, falling onto the see-saw to give his legs a quick break. But, forgetting that his seat was, in fact, a _see-saw_, it descended to the ground and Dru lost his balance, sending him to the concrete floor in a heap. Casually, he jumped straight back onto his feet and carried on walking, as if it never even happened. "We've been searcheeng for over an _hour_ now!"

Dave shrugged. "Be dee muno." He strolled over to the swing and placed his hand atop it, his expression dropping as he glared at the seat sadly. "Abba dee da dolaluna…"

"Yeah, Agnes loves dis theeng." Dru wandered over to the minion and joined him in watching the seat, shaking his head in pure dejection. "Just theenk, Dave…" The yellow creature glanced up at him, somewhat intrigued. "Maybe eef we deedn't do dat _stupeed_ power plant heist yesterday, de gurls wouldn't be misseeng right now."

"Ahhh, ma lah doo." Dave shook his head in dismissal, inviting Dru's gaze for a moment. "De beest bas hootee ta do wat eem."

"But eet _does_ have sometheeng to do weeth eet!" The blonde replied, swatting away the minion's consoling response, startling the little creature a little with his sudden harsh tone of voice. "Eef we deedn't go out on dat heist, Gru and Lucy wouldn't have had to look for gifts, and dey would never have had to leave dem weeth some babysitter! Face eet, dis ees _all my fault_!"

Before Dave could continue arguing with his master, Dru's phone began buzzing violently, as if the device was also oddly on-edge. Releasing a large sigh, the villain waited a few moments to continue stewing in aggravated guilt, before reaching into his trouser pockets and removing the device. When he spied the 'Unknown Number' text on the caller ID screen, he furrowed his brow a little questionably.

He never usually answered unknown numbers, but since he needed all the information he could get on the girls right now, he wasn't going to risk dismissing a very important call.

"Hello." He greeted unenthusiastically.

"Dru! How's it going, my friend!?" Dru's entire expression fell when he heard that voice across the phone. That very, _very_ familiar voice. "Guess who's escaped prison!"

"V-V-_Vixon_!?" Dru yelped, gasping as he shook his head in unbridled shock. He quickly glanced at Dave in panic, who like his master, practically shrieked out of fear. "Yoo…yoo…yoo _escaped_!?"

"You bet your squeaky butt I did!" Vixon replied, cackling over the receiver. "Now, look, I'll cut to the chase. I have a lot of very, very special little plans coming up and there's only _one_ man I want assisting me in getting them done. Come over to the mansion, we got a _lot_ of catching up to do!"

"W-wait, I…" Unfortunately, Vixon hung up before Dru could coherently argue that proposition. Almost dropping his phone in panic, the blonde grabbed a hold of his head and shrieked, turning to Dave at a near blurred speed. "He wants me at his _freakeeng_ _mansion_!"

Dave gasped in surprise again. "De pay no!"

"I couldn't say no, he hung up on me! Now he's expecteeng me to be dere!" Dru cast a harsh look into the heavens, closing his eyes as if to forget the world for a moment. "I can't even tell Gru and Lucy about eet, either! Otherwise, he'll _definitely_ know I am de one who snitched dis time!"

The two continued to bounce on the spot in panic, as if the ground had suddenly transformed into a trampoline. "Abladee banda de dalaa!?"

"Well, dere ees only one theeng I _can _do!" Dru replied, holding out his arms in frustration. "I'm gonna have to go to his mansion and help him een whatever crazy scheme he's planneeng!" Growling a little under his breath, Dru marched his way out of the park, throwing out one last instruction before he disappeared. "Keep lookeeng for de gurls!"

Dave watched him practically sprint away with a petrified look, the dreary and virtually depressing nature of this predicament coming to a head when small drops of rain began descending from the clouds. Only two days until Christmas and _this_ was the feeling in the air? It was almost unheard of.

"Uh-oh…" The little minion muttered, tensing up.

* * *

Gru and Lucy trudged into the kitchen in a particularly miserable fashion. However, concerning recent events, that really wasn't a surprise. They'd been outside assisting the search for the girls for about an hour, as well as peeking around any of the abandoned lairs they knew were previously owned by imprisoned villains, but still, they weren't any closer to locating them.

Unfortunately, they didn't know the location of every evil lair around the city, so a few of the more hidden ones weren't accounted for, but either way, Gru was still sure a villain must be behind this. His girls, when together, were smart and responsible children who would never just run away from home without permission.

That simply wasn't in their nature…

If a villain was behind this, then what was their motive? Probably to get back at Gru and Lucy in some fashion. That was usually the case. So many villains had declared their promise for revenge against the couple at this point, that there was a whole smorgasbord of possible culprits behind the kidnapping. But at the same time, what was with the radio silence?

Villains were usually egotistical folk. They adored the bragging rights behind crimes, and when it came to capturing the daughters of the most prolific AVL agents out there, they certainly wouldn't hesitate to announce their success. But, for whatever reason, whoever chose to take their little girls had done it secretly, leaving them without any clues and the villain without any reactionary gain.

Unless this was a cold, calculated act by a psychotic villain with nothing to lose or nothing to gain…

Whatever the case, these kinds of thoughts continuously tortured Gru and Lucy's minds as they sat at the booth table, the faint sounds of light pitter-pattering of rain on the window catching in their ears. This silence was insanely painful. It felt like it had been hovering over them for an eternity, pushing them closer towards hysteria. Complete peace was usually very rare in this household, that's what made it so unbearable.

"Should I…make some tea?" Gru questioned, finally breaking the silence.

Lucy shook her head. "No, thanks."

Another silence fell in between them. Again, it just felt so long, even when it only lasted a couple of seconds.

…

"Well, we've done everytheeng we can do," Gru continued, stressing the sentence at his spouse, who stared at the table in an almost traumatic fashion. "We've searched de neighborhood five times, looked around all dose lairs, called een every favor we can. Now we just gotta…wait 'til de minions find dem."

Lucy barely even reacted on this occasion. "Yep…"

Another silence.

…

"Should I…switch de radio on? Might help take our mind off theengs." Lucy waited for a long moment before replying with a small nod, one of which sent a pained chill down Gru's spine. It hurt him to see her so downcast. However, with the true helplessness they both currently felt, he couldn't deny that he was feeling the exact same way.

He reached over and switched the device on, and within a moment, a beautiful Christmas song consumed the room. The lyrics glided prettily within the melody, detailing gifts, Santa, fireplaces, and most importantly, _family_.

This definitely wasn't the best method of taking their mind off things.

As she sat there, listening to the uncharacteristically torturing words that spewed from the jolly tune, Lucy's lip started to quiver. She dropped her head sadly, feeling the tears boil behind her eyes. She wouldn't cry. Not now. That wouldn't help. It would make things worse. She had to deter them.

It was proving more difficult than first thought.

"Why did we try so hard, Gru?"

Puzzled, the bald man glared at his spouse, sending her a confused frown. "What?"

"Why didn't we just _give up_ on the gifts?" She finally offered him eye-contact, spinning her head around at such haste that Gru almost felt the need to dodge. "We didn't need them. We could've given them gifts after Christmas, told them that Santa had made a mistake. But _no_. We spent so long looking for presents for the girls, that we forgot about the actual _girls_ themselves."

"Lucy, dem goeeng misseeng was completely out of our control…"

"The _GIFTS_ were out of our control, Gru!" Lucy yelled, startling her spouse with her sudden outburst of anger. "We should've just _given up_! Anything we could've got them today would've been a terrible present anyway, so why did it matter!? We should've…we should've just…"

She choked on her words. Dropping her head, Lucy felt a tear slide right down her cheek, her defense broken.

"We should've focused on spending time as a _family_…"

Gru watched his wife with a heartbroken look. He had no response to that. How _could_ he respond to that?

She was right. The main focus wasn't the gifts. Christmas for girls who used to be orphans wasn't primarily about that. Besides, the only things they could've bought for the girls this close to Christmas was some cheap dollar store swill that probably would've broke in about a week's time. If they'd gave up and got them some late Christmas gifts, they could've bought them toys that they actually wanted.

But, as Lucy had said in the hallway earlier today, those girls deserved a great Christmas. They deserved a jolly Christmas household, a table with Christmas food, a television with Christmas movies, and a family they could spend time with on an actual Christmas Day.

Now, it appeared, they weren't getting any of that.

The couple got back to their least favorite activity. Stewing in silence. The radio was still playing those happy holiday-themed songs, but right now, all of the sounds in the room was being canceled out by overbearing thoughts.

After about a minute, Lucy quickly wiped her cheek and hopped up from the booth table, shaking her head in rejection in the process.

"Come on, let's carry on searching." She started her charge out of the room, but to her surprise, Gru rose from his seat and blocked her path, lightly grabbing her arm to stop her in place.

"Lucy, we've checked everywhere. De minions are already searcheeng de city, _we_ can't do much el-"

"Well, it's better than sitting here and driving ourselves crazy!" She roughly pulled her arm out of his grasp, frowning at her fatigued and beaten-down husband. "How are we gonna find any clues while we're stuck in this stupid-"

"_BREAKING NEWS!"_

For the very first time that evening, the radio entirely interrupted their thoughts.

"_The AVL have made a plea to the public regarding any information on a villain who escaped prison in the recent power outage. He has been identified as a brown-haired young man, who is likely dangerous and irritable. It is believed he currently goes under the alias Vixon."_

Gru and Lucy instantly snapped to attention and glared at each other.

"That statue guy." Lucy stated simply, her eyes widening tenfold.

Gru nodded, replying in the exact same simple tone. "Vixon."

Before either of them could charge out of the kitchen in a hurry, Gru's mobile phone started buzzing on the kitchen table, stealing their attention immediately…

* * *

Margo, with an elongated huff, practically slammed the phone back down into its designated holder. That was the tenth time that she'd tried ringing their home number, and on each occasion, she was met with the same response. A voicemail recording. They weren't answering. Needless to say, this was a bad time for this to happen.

"They're not picking up." She stated, turning to her sisters with a frustrated frown as they sat atop the strange man's kitchen counter. The two of them immediately looked concerned. That kind of feeling was becoming way too common-placed today.

"Why?" Agnes questioned.

"Haven't got a clue." Margo rubbed her strained forehead, shaking her head in irritation. "They must not be home."

At that point, Vixon wandered into the room with a smile, and upon spying the three unknown girls that were still inside his home, he replaced his expression with an exasperated frown.

"How are you girls still her-" Vixon quickly interrupted himself when he spied Edith, who was sitting on the kitchen counter eating one of the apples from his fruit-bowl. At speed, that frown ascended in strength. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Eating." Edith glared at him innocently and took another bite of the apple, which she crunched extra loudly in a mocking fashion.

"You can't just steal other people's fruit! Why do you think it's okay to do that!?"

The girl shrugged as she swallowed. "Dunno. Cuz I'm hungry."

Before Vixon could continue berating the girl for the theft of his food, the doorbell rung and slightly startled him again. He really needed to get used to that sound. Shaking his head with a huff, the man pointed at the three of them in an asserting manner, a style of which he seemed quite accustomed to.

"Right, I have a visitor, so finish up that stupid phone call and get outta here within the next _two minutes_ or there'll be a problem." He quickly spun back around and strutted into the prior room, but after realizing that he was going in the wrong direction, came back and walked through the kitchen into the hallway. He gave the three girls a slightly irked frown as he did so, clearly trying to hide his embarrassment.

Margo released another huff and glared at the phone, frowning as she deepened herself in thought. "They might be at the AVL. We'll have to ring their boss." She examined the room for a short while, and after spotting a large yellow book beside Agnes, pointed towards it. "Pass me the phone book."

As he trudged through the hallway, Vixon gave his head a calming wipe, as if to swat away the ire those girls had left behind. Once he'd composed himself, the man opened the door with a sudden hearty swing and smiled at the blonde white-donned villain that stood at his front step.

"Dru!" He greeted loudly, grasping the man's arm in a handshake. Dru couldn't deter the momentary volt of fear that ran down his spine. "Long time, no see, my friend! Glad to see you're…_on time_."

The blonde glanced away for a moment in discomfort, the sarcasm in Vixon's last sentence being as clear as day. It had taken him some time to find his way here, since he'd gotten a little bit lost on the way, even though he'd been here many times before.

"Uh…_yes_." Dru replied, offering an awkward grin. "Managed to escape prison den?"

"Of course! Like some stupid building is keeping _Vixon_ locked up." He paused to chuckle a little, handing Dru a very grateful look in the process. It was clear the blonde was having trouble reading the expression, based on his uncertain mannerisms. "But I do have your little power heist to thank for that. The darkness made it _pretty_ darn easy to ditch that torture chamber."

Dru cringed for a fraction of a second, but managed to erase it before Vixon caught on to his displeasure. That heist was proving to be the worst decision he'd ever made.

"Anyways, how have you been doing?" Vixon questioned energetically, finally stepping to the side to grant his former scheme partner an entrance to the home. "I'm kinda surprised you could make it. Aren't the AVL hot on your heels since the whole power plant business?"

"Well…yeah, dey've been causeeng me some problems," Dru replied vaguely, as Vixon closed the front door behind him. "But yoo know me. I always find a way out."

Vixon's smile faltered deeply for a moment, but before he had the chance to really dwell on that thought, Dru continued with his response.

"But as for how I'm doeeng, well…" He paused bluntly, as if a sudden blockage in his throat restricted him from talking. "Not so great."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Vixon replied, a genuine level of concern in his voice. Dru glanced up at him for a moment, clearly not expecting the villain to reply with something actually consoling. "Nothing a good old ounce of _mischief_ can't solve though, huh?"

He playfully punched the blonde in his arm as he spoke, an action which didn't alleviate his obvious dejection. "Eh, I'm not too sure about dat, Vixon. Yoo see…" Dru again forced himself to pause, cautiously observing Vixon as he did so. He debated whether or not tell him this. It was risky to reveal parts of his actual life. But, he reasoned, maybe this would provide a valid enough excuse to leave and secretly inform his brother of the villain's escape. "My…my nieces have gone misseeng."

Vixon's eyes bulged, clearly a little shocked.

"What? Seriously?" Dru replied with a solemn nod. "Damn, that sucks. I didn't even realize you had nieces."

"Uh…_yeah_." The blonde offered him another cautious glance, but swiftly removed it and continued with his train of thought. "De three of dem went misseeng after my stupeed power plant heist. I've been spendeeng de whole day lookeng for dem but eet's like dey…like dey vanished off de face of de ear-"

"Wait, did you say _three_ of them?" Vixon interrupted. Before responding, Dru handed his former villain partner an apprehensive, dubious look.

"Uh…yes?"

"And…does one of them happen to have a pink hat?"

Dru took a step back, fear immediately consuming him. How did he know that?

"_Yeahhhh…_"

"Well…you're _insanely_ fortunate, my friend." Vixon responded, grinning. Dru watched the man in total bewilderment as he pointed through the hallway. "You might wanna have a look in the kitchen."

Furrowing his brow, the blonde paused for a short while to examine Vixon's grin, as if to evaluate if there was any menace within it. It didn't seem so, but yet, that didn't alleviate his fear. With trepidation, he turned and carefully strolled through the hallway, his gaze shooting in all directions to search his surroundings for any booby-traps or hidden weaponry.

But, when he finally entered the kitchen and locked eyes with the three familiar girls that were sat inside, that fear was swiftly evaporated.

"Gurls!" He yelled, instantly dashing over to them.

"Uncle Dru!" They replied, Margo dropping the phone to the floor in order to run towards him.

They crashed in a massive relief-filled hug, the built-up worry fading within moments. They held each other tightly in silence for a short while, as if to confirm that this was definitely happening, before eventually breaking apart and sharing contrasted looks of confusion and absolute joy.

"What happened to yoo three!? How have yoo ended up _here_!?"

Margo opened her mouth to respond, but quickly, found herself stumbling on her words. Should she tell the truth and further the family's distrust, or lie and cover-up her mistake? She really didn't know. It was unlike her to be dishonest, but right now, that seemed like an especially desirable option. Upon spying this odd reaction, Dru offered her a perplexed gaze, but before he could question the twelve-year-old, Edith intercepted to provide the explanation.

"We went to the park and took the wrong way home." Margo offered her a short blank look. She really could've name-dropped her, but for some reason, had decided not to.

"We got super lost." Agnes added.

Dru released a heavy thankful sigh as he reached into his pocket, fishing out his mobile phone.

"I gotta call my brother. Let heem know yoo're okay." He dialed the number and swiftly held it up to his ear, as a giant smile exploded from his expression. When he heard the click on the other end, he couldn't help but immediately throw out the fantastic news in an ebullient fashion. "_Gru_! Guess what! I found de gurls!"

"What!?" Gru exclaimed through the receiver. He paused for a small moment, probably to offer his spouse an elated glance. "Where are dey!?"

"Well, I was searcheeng around de park and I got a call from Vixon and when I got here, dey were…"

At this point, Dru realized his fatal mistake.

His eyes widening in dread, the blonde glanced upwards at his nieces, his prior look of joy entirely erased. Margo and Agnes were returning beaming smiles, but Edith seemed distracted by something behind him, sending whatever it was a demonic frown.

Swallowing in fear, he very, very slowly turned around with a petrified look, already knowing what he was about to face.

The anger in Vixon's expression was practically off the charts.

"_Gru_ is your brother?" He questioned, his voice low and dark, as if the rage in his body was tampering with his voice box.

Dru gulped heavily. "N-n-no, eet's a different-"

"It was _you_." Vixon pointed at the blonde, taking a threatening step forward. "_You_ were the snitch."

"What!? No! I would _never_-"

"_That's_ how you keep getting out of punishment." He continued to approach at a slow, yet terrifying pace, electing Dru to step back and shield the girls protectively. "Your brother covers up for you, makes sure you avoid prison time."

"N-no, dat's not _exactly_ tr-"

"I do not _CARE_ for your excuses!" Vixon yelled, quickly unleashing a handgun from his back pocket, which he aimed directly at Dru. The girls, plus their uncle, yelped a high-pitched gasp. "I should've known it was you! I can't _BELIEVE_ I'd be so freaking _stupid_!"

"Dru!? Dru!? What's goeeng on!?"

As he heard his brother's faint concerning tone of voice across the receiver, Dru quickly threw the phone up to his mouth, yelling down it as loud as humanly possible.

"EET'S _VIXON_! He got out of prison! He knows! He's gonna…he's gonna-"

The blonde couldn't finish his desperate plea for help before Vixon slammed the phone out of his grasp aggressively, shattering the device to pieces…

* * *

_I sincerely hope everyone enjoyed!_

_It's gonna be a tough one, but hopefully, the final two chapters will be released tomorrow and Christmas Eve respectively. If I can't manage it, then it will still be finished. I'll just have to release them after Christmas Day._

_If you choose to review, as I've said a million times before, it's really appreciated :)_


	7. The Perfect Revenge

_Two uploads in two days! I can't even remember the last time I managed that! As always, all reviews on the last chapter are very much appreciated :)_

_This is the penultimate chapter, so expect a nice portion of action! Hope everyone enjoys!_

* * *

**Chapter Seven:**  
_**The Perfect Revenge**_

With nothing left to do, Dr. Nefario was aimlessly wandering through his empty, almost eerie underground laboratory with a look of indifference, his gaze spinning around against the walls. He couldn't remember the last time it was this quiet in here. Since the minions had all left to search the city for the girls, he was the only one still down here.

To put it simply, he hated it.

He must admit, it was odd. The minions were loud, energetic, destructive creatures that caused trouble and damage wherever they went, and because of that, Nefario was constantly growing irritated by their presence. But, now that they had all left, he was already beginning to miss their company. That constant sound of laughing, running, and breaking was almost comforting compared to this silence.

It was likely, in some respects, that Gru and Lucy were feeling the same way right now…

Soon, the elderly doctor found himself in the stage room, where the platform carrying all of their stolen artifacts was still ascended. He traipsed his way up the steps and cast an examining glance across them all, inspecting each one with an expression far from pride. These successes had been severely soured with this month's bad news. It seemed their year wasn't as 'pretty good' as they first assumed.

Eventually, his gaze fell on the Totem of Promise. It was an odd artifact, to the say the least. An old Tahitian tribe had left an assortment of hieroglyphics across multiple temples and old buildings referring to this very small statue, labeling it as a cursed fortune that will, in time, leave you lost and hopeless from greed and unprecedented desire. Collectors had been searching for it for years, and it was the combined work of Dru and Vixon that eventually lead to its discovery.

Whatever those tribesmen had promised in the writings must've been bogus, since the group of them have had the totem in the lab for over six months, and this apparent _unprecedented desire_ was nowhere to be found.

Along with it, they found another purple gem positioned right next to the Totem in the hidden underground temple, this one going entirely unmentioned in those prior hieroglyphics. Vixon was the one who took it after a small debate between the duo, claiming that he apparently admired the design and wanted it all for himself.

It was at that moment that Nefario's expression completely fell.

_Vixon._

His promises of revenge rung around his head. He'd vowed to get back at Gru and Lucy in whatever way he could, and stealing their daughters was certainly the best place to start. If that was the case, and Vixon was the one behind this disappearance, then that could be severely detrimental, as that one put him one step closer to figuring out that Dru was Gru's brother.

Or, in other words, that would put him one step closer to unveiling the truth behind the statue backstabbing.

Taking a moment to glance away in thought, the scientist shook his head in dismissal and turned back around to slowly make his way out of the room, returning to the main lab. He was clearly overthinking things. That man was locked up in prison, there was no way he was managing an escape. He was still a young and inexperienced villain. As if a little pip-squeak like him would outsmart a group of prison guards.

Upon heading back to the main room inside the laboratory, Nefario was almost startled off of his feet when Gru and Lucy practically booted the elevator doors down. They erupted into the room and sprinted their way over to the doctor, who had to take a moment to adjust to the sudden newcomers.

"Trace dis call!" Gru yelled, virtually throwing his mobile phone onto the desk in front of the doctor. Nefario returned a puzzled expression.

"What's goi-"

"We don't have time to explain!" Lucy interrupted almost instantly, pointing down at the phone to direct all of the doctor's attention towards it. "Just trace the location of the last call this phone received!"

Without another word, Nefario grabbed the device and wandered over to the supercomputer, handing the two AVL agents short befuddled glances as he hooked it up. This sudden overly-commanding state was unexpected, to say the least. Once the phone was connected, he quickly jabbed at the buttons on his extensive keyboard, trying to open his series of programs as speedily as possible.

"Alright, what the bloody heck has happened?" He questioned as he typed.

"Vixon. He's escaped prison." Nefario's eyes rapidly bulged and he turned to his best friend in confusion, but right as he did so, Gru immediately pointed down at the keyboard, instructing him to return to tracing. The scientist did so without complaint. "Dru called to let us know. Apparently, he rang and invited him over or sometheeng and de gurls were dere and…he's een big trouble."

Nefario furrowed a brow as he continued stabbing the keyboard.

"Well, that clears that up." He replied sarcastically. "Just give me a minute, I'll have it tracked in a jiffy."

"Thank yoo..." Gru responded with a slight huff of relief, turning to his spouse, who was holding her head in her hands in deep concern. "Vixon must've escaped een de power outage last night." He shook his head, stress overlaying his face. "Bet Dru's regretteeng dat heist now…"

"How did this even happen?" She questioned, giving her husband a small look of bewilderment. "Vixon doesn't know where we live. How would he have kidnapped the girls?"

"Don't have a clue," He turned to watch the massive computer screen, which was currently in the process of scanning a multitude of very complicated looking variables in search of the phone call's location. "But I guess dat's what we're gonna find out."

After a short while, Nefario slammed a firm finger on the biggest button on his keyboard, producing a huge thumping sound.

"Alright!" He exclaimed, attracting the AVL agent's attention as he intently examined the series of numbers that flashed on-screen. Pressing another button, a large printer beside him on the desk whirred to life and unleashed a large A3 satellite image of the city, and the doctor grabbed a hold of it to mark the co-ordinate's location with a red marker. "Here's where the phone call came from. Right in the middle of this forest." He turned and handed the map to the agents, who snatched it at speed. "My guess, that's where Vixon's lair is."

Gru returned a prompt nod of appreciation. "Thank yoo, doctor." Without another word, both him and his spouse spun and sprinted out of the room, heading for the elevator doors. "Let's save our daughters!"

Within a few seconds, the AVL couple were ascending out of the lab and back into the house. Nefario watched closely as the elevator disappeared into the high ceiling, it's signature 'whizzing' sound fading along with it. After a moment, he turned his head and cast a look down the nearby hallway, his gaze caught by the stage's entrance door at the far end of it.

Frowning, he shook his head in sincere regret.

"We should never have worked with that madman."

* * *

Gru had his foot down so hard on the accelerator of his metal tank that it was a wonder how their insane speed hadn't led the couple into a dangerous crash. Lucy was beside him in the passenger seat of the odd vehicle, providing directions as hurriedly as possible with the assistance of Nefario's map.

They were currently racing their way down an abrasive dirt road in the middle of some dense unknown forest, so seemingly, it appeared they were on the right track. The two of them had been on this same small, dirtied road for around ten minutes now, and still, there was no sign of Vixon's lair. How big was this stupid woodland?

"Are yoo sure we're going de right way?" Gru questioned, momentarily glancing through the trees. It proved quite difficult in the blinding sea of the night's darkness.

"Must be. This is what Nefario put on the map." Gru caught a glimpse of her as Lucy spun the map around in her hands, deeply examining the satellite image with an exceedingly puzzled look on her face. It seemed she was having some trouble determining the route that had literally been written down for her.

"Yoo sure? 'Cause yoo're lookeeng a bit uncertain of dat." Her husband's almost insulting darkened tone of voice dragged a frown to Lucy's face, as she glared at him in indignation. "Eet ees not dat hard to read a freakeeng _map_, Lucy."

"Oh, well, apologies for not thinking straight while our daughters are in the hands of some _crazed villain_!"

"Dis ees not de furst time dis has happened." Unable to properly process his response for a moment, Lucy looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Yoo know we gotta keep concentrated eef we wanna find dem."

"Not the first time, are…are you _serious_!?" She spat aggressively, shaking her head in irritation. "I don't care if the girls have been taken a _million times_, Gru, I'm never gonna be okay with some psychopath stealing them from our ho-"

"Dere eet ees!"

Gru couldn't help but interrupt when Vixon's dark and haunting looking mansion stood not too far further down the road, catching in his sight like a gleaming diamond in a sea of grey pebbles. He sped down the road and braked hazardously outside the creepy home, which oddly enough, considering the time, had no lights on inside.

The couple shared a very quick concerned look before jumping out of the vehicle and sprinting up to the front door. An eerie silence flooded the surrounding forest, as well as the interior behind the almost rotting entrance. The only sound catching in their ears was the faint chirps of some nearby crickets and the light waft of the trees swinging in the slow wind.

That was either a really good sign, or a really _bad_ one…

Grasping the door handle, Gru slowly twisted the knob in his hand and gently pushed the door, which thankfully, opened up. Again, the fact that it was unlocked could be either good or bad, and the only way to conclude for definite was to start the search of the large, pitch-black home.

The two agents crept through the hallway carefully, keeping a keen eye out for booby traps or hidden weaponry, exactly like Dru did when he first entered the house. It was difficult to do so, however, with the lack of light inside the room making it a boundless sea of black.

"Deed yoo breeng de night vision goggles?" Gru questioned, his voice just above a feeble whisper.

"Sure did."

Lucy fished the aforementioned gadgets out of her pocket and threw one to her husband, who caught it with ease. Not wanting to waste precious searching time, he equipped the goggles and examined the room at speed, which fortunately, seemed like a standard old hallway.

Either way, the two of them could see coherently now, a trait they considered was probably quite useful when looking for your kidnapped family members.

They carried on through the short hall and traipsed their way into the living room, which they immediately scanned in the same fashion as the prior room. To their surprise, they came face-to-face with a massive mountain of children's toys, and after a very small moment of confusion, they realized why they were here.

"Oh my god…" Lucy muttered, spinning her gaze across all the different gifts that stood in massive towers around her. "Guess this explains who broke into the superstores."

Gru shook his head, entirely puzzled. "Yeah, but…_why_? Why go to all of dis effort just to rid de shops of _toys_?"

"Haven't got a clue," Lucy shrugged as she slowly made her way through the room, trying not to knock over the toys and start a chain of collapsing towers. With the number of dolls and different hard packaged gifts, it wouldn't be a surprise if these things could knock a person unconscious if they all fell at once. "But let's not wait to find out."

The two of them meandered very carefully forward through the living room, trying to work out a conceivable path that could be taken to avoid knocking the toys over. They crept past an especially expensive looking sofa and coffee table before making it to the back wall, which instantly caught Lucy's gaze.

Sat there beside a normal looking photo of a happy little family was a very shiny, oddly appealing purple gem. It shone so beautifully within her night vision goggles that she couldn't help but approach it, just to examine it more closely. After a few seconds of simply watching it with awe, her husband appeared from behind her, looking at the gem in a very similar way to herself.

"Dat ees a nice lookeeng jewel." He spoke as he glared at the wall adorning treasure. "Where'd ya theenk he got eet from?"

Lucy rolled her eyes a little. "My guess, probably stolen." She cast a small look back at all the toy towers, a frown forming on her face. "He does seem to be a fan of thieving things that don't belong to him."

"Dat's villains for you." Gru paused for a moment to cast one last look at the gem, before shaking his head slightly and turning away, in order to get back to their primary concern. Their _daughters_. "Come on, we best continue de search."

"Yes."

Lucy, like her husband, snatched another glance of the purple treasure before turning away and following Gru out of the room.

After appearing into another small hallway, one of which was a little larger than the last, they carried on forward and eventually entered what appeared to be a study. A mobile phone, presumably Vixon's, was sat on the counter, flopped over as if it had been slammed down in either anger or excitement. A large table stood at the far end of the room, one of which carried a photo-book that appeared in near-mint condition.

Gru crept over to the large book and picked it up in an inspective fashion, not wasting any time in opening it and flicking through the pages. Across them all were a vast series of pictures, starting with a little baby, and eventually progressing to a small family with a pre-teen child and two healthy, happy parents.

Suddenly, though, the pictures cut out…

At the end of the photo-book was a large number of empty pages. No images, no memories. Just nothing, as if that prior family suddenly stopped documenting their life in picture form…

Furrowing a brow, Gru shrugged and placed the book down, turning back to his spouse, who was currently in the process of fishing through some drawers in search of anything interesting. After a short while, where they concluded for definite that the girls were not here, they staggered back out into the hallway and perused the room with a befuddled look.

"Should we search upstairs?" Lucy asked.

Gru nodded.

"Good idea, but…where ees de staircase?" He turned to his wife with an entirely lost expression, obviously a bit puzzled with where to go and how to get there.

"Wasn't it back through the living room?" Lucy returned the exact same look, as she too was having some trouble deducing her location.

"Theenk so. Where ees de liveeng room again?"

"I think it's down here." Lucy traipsed carefully through the hallway, casting inspective glances at all the nearby doors. Eventually, still a bit confused, she grabbed the handle of the nearest one and pushed it open, where she was met by a downward set of stairs. "Are we…are we _already_ upstairs?"

"I…I don't know," Gru replied, shaking his head as if to instruct it to operate. After a moment, he lightly huffed and began the descent down the steps, carefully scrutinizing every nook and cranny of his enclosed surroundings. "But I guess dere ees only one way to find out."

The two carefully traipsed down and emerged into a large but fairly empty room, clearly some form of basement. There were no windows, no doors, no carpet lining the ground. Just a single drawer and a cell with four human figures wallowing inside of it.

_Wait…_

"Girls!?" Lucy exclaimed aloud, stepping forward, a large bolt of hope striking through her.

"Lucy!?" Four voices, all in differing pitches, exclaimed back.

Feeling the exact same sudden spark of optimism, Gru turned his head to the right at almost lightning speed and slammed his palm on the nearby light switch, granting them a much clearer view of the interior. Sure enough, their daughters, plus Dru, were sat against the wall of a small, barred cell, looking back at Gru and Lucy with bulging, hopeful eyes.

Instantly, the parents threw off their goggles, sending them crashing against a wall.

"_Girllllssss_!?" They boomed in unison, throwing themselves forward to get as physically close to them as possible through the interfering cell bars. The four of them did the same, but while they were stuck inside that confined little hellhole, there was no way they were sharing a relief hug just yet.

"Thank god!" Lucy glanced up at the heavens for a moment, as if to deliver her gratitude to whatever higher being reunited them.

"What happened!? How have you all ended up here!?" Gru questioned, sharing his deep eye-contact with every imprisoned family member.

"Well, de gurls got lost, but…" Dru turned to offer the three girls an interrogating look, who all returned much brighter expressions, now that their mom and dad were in the room. "Dey won't tell me how eet happened."

Immediately, Margo turned her head away in a guilt-ridden fashion, as everyone's eyes quickly landed on her inquisitively. She shuffled her feet awkwardly for a moment, prolonging the inevitable confession. Sadly, she raised her head again and shared saddened looks with her siblings, as if to question them on what to do.

Edith and Agnes glared back at her expectantly, and after a few seconds of the three giving each other slightly confused looks, the two younger girls nodded and offered minor smiles of encouragement. Margo, along with a slight sigh, returned it and spun to face her parents.

"It was my fault." She confessed, unable to hold eye-contact for long before the shame forced her to glare at the floor. "I made us go to the park cuz you guys didn't trust me and…and I wanted to prove that I can look after my sisters and…then we ended up getting lost and…well, I couldn't find the way home."

Not expecting the slight level of both anger and shame in Margo's voice, Gru and Lucy raised a brow, but before they could produce a response, Dru cut in to carry on the series of events. "Den Vixon rang me and told me to come here for some…_plan _or sometheeng. When I got here, de gurls were een de keetchen. Dat's when I rang yoo and…den he figured everytheeng out."

The AVL agents shared a short glance. "Where is Vixon now?"

"_Riiiighhhtt here…_"

Shocked and startled, Gru and Lucy jumped and turned around, where they watched as the aforementioned villain descended down the basement stairs, giving the occupants of the underground room a mocking, evil smile.

"Long time, no see, Gru's." He came to a stop at the final step, his grin continuing to evolve threateningly. "Last time I saw you, I didn't realize your little family was so…_not little_. If your _pathetic _daughters hadn't got lost, I guess I never would've _found out_." Pausing to cackle a little, he reached into his pockets and unleashed a set of prison cell keys, which he hung mockingly in front of the agents. "Looking for these?"

Gru and Lucy frowned hazardously and watched the young man with pure rage. As they did so, the wind outside audibly picked up, a sound of which seemed to oddly please the villain.

"This truly is _the perfect revenge_."

"Let dem out of de cell…" Gru threatened, his voice exceedingly low and dark, as if it was coming from hell itself. "Or I swear, dis will _not_ be pretty."

Vixon chuckled a little, glancing away to the side for a moment.

"Still suck at threats, I see..." Slowly, he returned the threatening expression to his face, as he stepped forward towards the agents with his fists clenched. "How about you let your _fists_ do the talking?"

Gru growled.

"Dat can be arranged."

The two AVL agents stormed forward towards the villain, who grinned a little as he swiftly dodged Lucy's thundering punch. As Vixon swayed off to the side, Gru lunged to grab the man in a headlock, but with almost impressive agility, the young man wrangled past him and punched the AVL agent harshly in the back, making him topple over to the hardened concrete floor.

However, while Vixon was throwing the attack, Lucy stormed up to his right and kicked him in the stomach, stunning him for a moment. He stepped backwards in pain and didn't have time to react before the redhead slammed his head with a stabbing right-hook, that sent him toppling against the wall.

Trying to land the punch that would surely knock Vixon unconscious, Lucy threw herself forward one more time as the villain seemed a bit dazed, but couldn't make contact as he suddenly leaped away to his right, somehow regaining his mental functionality at an unexpected speed. Unfortunately, what her fist did make contact with was the hardened wall, which sent a sharp shooting pain right up her wrist.

Hissing in agony, the female agent grabbed a hold of her hand and stepped back, and as the pain continued to distract her, Vixon took his chance and thundered forward to punch her in the gut. However, now back on his feet, Gru leaped from seemingly nowhere and tackled him to the floor before he could, where he proceeded to throw a rapid series of punches at his head.

A few managed to land, but right around the sixth punch, he missed by a tiny amount and inadvertently gave Vixon the chance to retaliate, which the villain took without arguing. He pushed the agent off with sudden strength and kicked him fiercely in his sensitive area, which was painful enough to topple Gru to the floor.

Now free, Vixon jumped up onto his feet and scampered his way back up the staircase, as Gru and Lucy took a few seconds to readjust themselves and soothe any lingering pains. As they did so, Margo ran up to the bars and called out to her parents, Dru right beside her protectively, just in case Vixon returned.

"Mom! Dad! Are you okay!?"

Grinning, the agents glanced at each other and gave their eldest daughter a firm nod.

"We're fine." Lucy stated.

"We'll be back een a moment to let yoo out." Gru added, as they turned and sprinted in pursuit of the young villain. "Dat punk ees goeeng to _suffer_."

They dashed their way up the basement steps, their fists clenched in preparation to continue the fight. They didn't know where that idiot was running off to or what he was planning to do, but right now, his thought processes were the least of their concerns. Rather, punching him right into oblivion seemed a lot more desirable.

Continuing the pace, Gru and Lucy practically kicked the hallway door down and raced their way into the room, but with the house's darkened state blocking their vision, Vixon sneakily leaped from the right and charged into Lucy, sending her crashing into some nearby furniture.

She hit the floor with a huge thump, and right as she was about to dust herself down and quickly get back onto her feet, the set of drawers and the wall adorning portrait that she crashed into toppled over and slammed into her head, pushing her right back onto the floor.

She remained completely inanimate after that…

Letting out a very low, rough growl, Gru clenched his fists tightly, to the point where his knuckles bordered a shade of white.

"Yoo're gonna _regret_ dat."

Vixon chuckled. "That's cute, Gru. Protecting your wife." He cocked his head to the side, but in the darkness, his evil tendencies weren't as effective. "I'll have to get '_Loving Husband_' written on your tombstone."

Gru bared his teeth, as if he'd just transformed into some predatory wild animal.

Using the very timid moonlight coming from the hallway window, he launched towards the villain with a swinging punch, but only just missed as Vixon managed an agile dodge. Sprinting off through the darkness, the young man made his way towards the living room at a rapid pace, his AVL foe staying right behind him.

But, to Gru's heightened surprise, Vixon very quickly spun around and came to a stop right beside the living room door, before striking the bald agent with a rough, exceedingly solid punch. Completely stunned, Gru flopped to his right and landed heavily on the living room floor, right beside one of the large piles of stolen toys.

If he'd landed only a millimeter closer, that mountain of gifts would've crushed him.

Trying to stand up in his dazed state, Gru groaned and shook his head a little as he sat up, all while ensuring to avoid toppling the toys over. But, right as he was about to jump onto his feet, the light in the room suddenly beamed to life and the tall, threatening figure of Vixon stood over him, one hand on the light switch, the other grasping a handgun…

Grinning, the villain lifted the weapon into the air and menacingly fingered the trigger, aiming it right at the bald man's head.

"What's the game plan now, Gru? Huh?" He was breathing heavily as he spoke, cocking his head to the side demonically. "Gonna get your stupid little sibling to tattle on me? Don't think that'll work this time."

Gru frowned, trying to look unfazed as the gun hung threatening in the air.

"Yoo're insane." He stated bluntly, rage lining his face as he looked down the barrel of the weapon. "Yoo seriously theenk yoo're gonna get away weeth killeeng me? De AVL will pummel yoo like some puny insect."

Vixon cackled manically. "Oh, Gru, I don't think that will be an issue. You see, the AVL won't be around once you're gone." Gru furrowed a brow questioningly. "You really think that stupid company's gonna survive without you? Once I've ruined Christmas and brought this city to its knees, the Anti-Villain League will be _finished_."

Gru growled aggressively, shaking his head in pure anger. "Why!? What ees even de point of dis!? What has de AVL ever done to yoo!?"

"Oh, _what has the AVL ever done to me_!?" Vixon stepped forward, his arm beginning to shake in total ire. "Nothing much! Just killed my parents, left me in some orphanage, and threw me in a _god-damn_ prison for forty years! Yeah, me and that stupid organization are just _peachy_!"

"_Yoo_ threw _yourself_ een prison, Vixon! _Yoo_ were de one who chose to put dose explosives een dat statue! Dat's got notheeng on us!" Gru frowned, holding his hands out in befuddlement. "And I had notheeng to do weeth yoo're parents' death! Why're yoo gunning for _me_ so hard!?"

"Why am I gunning for you!? Oh, because you foiled my plan, because you interfere with everything, because you're the best agent in the AVL!" He steadied the weapon in his hand, bringing the evil grin back to his face in the process. "Plus, you AVL scum are all the same! I'd hate to see how many villain families you've needlessly torn apart!"

He placed a finger on the trigger, ready to push it and end this ordeal once and for all. It was finally time for his much-awaited revenge. His time to go down in history.

As the man who killed Felonious Gru…

"Now your _little girls_ can get a taste of how that feels…"

Gru's expression completely fell. "Dis ees not goeeng to happen, Vixon!"

"How!? Who's gonna stop me!?" The villain yelled, his limbs continuing to shiver with rage. He looked like he was on the brink of absolute insanity, either from complete rage, or total excitement. Either way, whatever the case, Gru's heart was doing backflips. "There's only two of us left, Gru! It's _all over_!"

"There is a fault in your logic…"

Startled, Vixon didn't have the time to question the sudden voice from behind before Lucy charged forward and kicked the man further into the room, right towards the massive pile of toys. Within a moment, they all toppled and collapsed, crashing into his head with sheer pace and strength. The villain, entirely dazed, slumped and slammed his head against the burgundy premium coffee table, instantly knocking him unconscious…

Startled, Gru jumped up and leaped through the door as the toys collapsed, only just managing to escape the room and crash in a heap beside his spouse before he too was crushed. The two AVL agents turned and watched as the living room transformed into a sea of gifts, no signs of movement from a young, aspiring villain anywhere to be seen…

Leaning down, Lucy helped her husband back onto his feet, but as she did so, her gaze was locked firmly inside the toy-filled living room, directed towards the nowhere to be seen Vixon.

"There's _three_ of us!"

* * *

"Thank you _so much_ for saving us!"

Agnes was tightly cuddling her mom and dad outside of the dark, horrible looking mansion, as they descended down the front steps. She'd latched onto them the moment they came to unlock the prison cell and, in usual Agnes fashion, was clearly having a bit of trouble with letting go. But, Gru and Lucy didn't mind. They were just happy all of them were alive, safe, and healthy.

"That's okay, kiddo." Lucy replied, chuckling as the family trudged over to their vehicular tank.

"Remember, we'll _always_ be dere to save yoo. No matter what." Gru added, lightly rubbing the back of Agnes's head affectionately. Smiling, the six-year-old let go for a moment and beamed lovingly at her father, before snuggling right back into his chest.

As she traipsed on just behind, Margo watched the little girl do so with a small smile, and after a moment, turned to watch Edith in the same fashion. She was adorning her own, bright grin as she sat atop Dru's shoulders, obviously happy to be out of that awful prison cell.

She'd be feeling the exact same way now, if the guilt wasn't slightly overwriting her happiness…

"Right, girls…" Lucy spoke up, as her husband had to forcefully pry Agnes off of him to set her down inside the tank. "Uncle Dru's gonna drive you home. Me and your father are gonna have to stay here."

"You're not coming with?" Edith asked, watching them with an almost saddened expression as she and her sisters climbed up into the vehicle.

"We will be, but…" Gru paused to glance at his wife, who smiled and giggled a little. "We gotta take Vixon to the AVL first."

Though they were still a little befuddled, the three daughters smiled and waved at Gru and Lucy, as Dru shot the two of them an affirming wink and jumped into the driver's seat. After a moment, the tank was driving off down the dirt road, leaving the two AVL agents to watch it in front of the mansion's front steps with a smile. Once the vehicle disappeared, Lucy chuckled and turned to her spouse with a bright smile.

"Nice lie."

Gru chuckled along with her before responding. "Well, I wasn't totally wrong. We _are_ gonna have to take Vixon eento de AVL before we get back."

"Yeah, true." Lucy laughed a little more as she glanced up at the night sky, the likes of which was still a little blurred with clouds. However, the wind had certainly died down, compared to the force it was blowing with during the mansion fight. "Dru had better remember to bring the tank back here. Otherwise, getting all those gifts home is gonna be _kinda_ difficult."

Gru grinned at her for a moment before turning his head upwards to join his wife in watching the stars. Looking back, maybe Dru's little heist had done them a favor. If he hadn't turned off all the power and granted Vixon to escape prison, then that idiot would never have stolen all the gifts and given the AVL couple an almost endless supply of different toys to give the girls in two days' time.

Yes, the right thing to do was probably return _all_ of the gifts to the superstore, but to be fair, they did require some form of recompense for finding them in the first place…

"Deedn't I tell yoo Lucy?" Gru began, as the couple shared a loving glare. "Dis Christmas ees gonna be _great_!"

"Ah, ah, stop it, Gru." The redhead jokingly berated, pointing a finger at him with a playful smile. "You know what happened the last time you said that."

Gru chuckled, giving a small shrug. "I've put my phone on silent."

"Oh, well, in that case…" Lucy smirked as she turned back towards the mansion door. "I guess it _is_ gonna be a great Christmas."

Laughing, the two of them ascended the steps toward the mansion entrance, very excited to start the search through the toys for perfect gifts for their daughters. But, before they could make it to the door, a series of snowflakes fluttered down around them, catching their attention for a moment.

"A white Christmas this year?" Lucy proposed, turning to her husband. Gru grinned.

"Eet's been a while since we've had one of dose."

* * *

_Wooo! I really didn't think I was gonna get this chapter out on time, but alas, I managed it! Hope everyone enjoyed :)_

_We've got one more to go before this story is officially wrapped up! Should be released either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day!_

_All reviews, as usual, are appreciated!_


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